Get It Rollin'

New beginnings

2011-01-04T18:03:00.000-08:00

I can't believe it's 2011! My last blog date was in 2009. It has been well over a year. Perhaps the most life changing year of my life since I was eight.

For the past couple years my life's atmosphere had become nothing less of asphyxiating and my spirit had sunken to where no natural method seemed enough to lift me out of bed each morning. On a midst of giving up hope and looking for help I started to render a picture in my mind of how I wanted my life to look like, and I realized it was the same picture I had had as a child. A picture that now had long been obscured by other peoples ideals and stereotypes. For years I had been living just to survive, doing things to make others happy, holding onto excuses to keep myself in a miserable life situation.

So a year ago on new years eve as I was welcoming the year 2010 with some family and friends I claimed that my new years resolution was simply to "get a new life." It was an overwhelming statement. Yet that vision caused my life to take a 180 degree turn, and last August I took my horse Madeira, and left California and my life there for the last 18 years to travel to the Parelli Natural Horsemanship university in Colorado.

I had dreamed about going to the Parelli center for years and it had always felt like such an unreachable dream. But I genuinely believed that someday it would come true. And so it did. (And I lived happily ever after...)

I successfully completed the four week Fastrack course in Colorado, and stayed on as a resident student.

I have stayed at the Parelli ranch now for fife months, and I thank God every single day for this incredible opportunity, as I realize there are thousands of people around the world who would love to be in my shoes...

After my Fastrack course ended I spend a month at the Colorado Parelli campus before we packed up and traveled to the Florida campus for winter.

My poor confused Madeira! Who ever would have thought that I would drag her all the way across the country. She lost a "ton" of weight during travel and arrived in Florida looking rather scrawny and wide eyed. But she has adjusted beautifully. She lives in a large wooded pasture called the "Woods pasture" in a herd of six horses. And just the other day when I took off her blanket for the day I realized that I could no longer see her ribs sticking out.

This journey together has done wonders to our relationship. I feel so lucky to be here close to my horse, to feed her and take care of her, and play with her everyday. I wasn't always able to do that .

Life here at the Parelli ranch is very busy. Being part of the team helping such a large ranch operate really tests our physical stamina, but it is concretely more satisfying than anything else in the world I could think of. And has great potential to keep me in a desired physical shape, apart from all the chocolate intake... and food at the lodge which is excellent!!! The cooks here exceed my expectations most every day. They keep us well fed.

Needless to say I'm having the time of my life, living at Parelli ranch, learning tons about ranch keeping and caring for horses, and eating chocolate:)

I also get to meet lots of new people, students as well as Parelli professionals, who come here to study from all over the world.

My first impression of Florida was a sweltering hot and humid climate with bugs galore. The Parelli campus has a "Jurassic park" like feel to it with all its groves of oak trees with Spanish moss, like gray veils hanging down their branches. Hazy mornings with an eerie mist laying low to the ground. Echoey choir of exotic sounds I had never heard, that simultaneously intrigued and startled me.

I live in a small trailer that sleeps 4 people. It is a very cozy, rugged and sometimes very interesting living situation in a "oh boy..." kind of way. But I (the odd person that I am) absolutely love it! At the very moment I'm sitting all cozy and warm in a candle light with a cup of hot chocolate, writing a blog. And oh boy it is COLD outside! Yes Florida does too get cold. The temperature changes are wide-ranging, which makes playing with the idea of "to blanket or not to blanket" the horses very engrossing.

Some mornings we have woken up to frozen-solid water pipes. Scraped frost off the feeding truck window. Found that ice has cracked the pipes of the automatic waterers in each one of the 14 pastures, so that later on when the day thawed out there were pretty little fountains and trickling rivers running through the fields. Those days mean "all hands on deck" fixing water pipes. And our main concern is not to run out of propane in the middle of the night, unless one wants to wake up with white, misty puffs of breath rising out of their sleeping bag.

But those same days when the sun creeps up and the horses are peacefully munching their morning hay on the white, frosty fields it's the most beautiful, serene scene, that sincerely makes up for all life's little challenges.

I have learned so much while being a resident student. Amongst it driving the most incredible machines, which before I couldn't have even named, and towing the most incredible things, like the water tank. (I know, I may sound like a 3 year old little boy who gets excited about trucks and tractors, but hey, now I know why!!!) The coolest of them all is the harrow. Not because of it's size or mechanism, but it is the best tool to learn "feel" and "focus." (Remember the saying: "the best way to plow a crooked furrow is to look back to see if it's straight.") When Pat at a tour stop says that learning here is like the "wax on wax off" type of deal, it's no joke. No need to mention that feel and focus are profoundly important in good horsemanship, but It's a must learn to harrow with good feel, otherwise one may end up chipping a fence post. And trust me, that is immensely frowned upon! (Really, so sorry about that...!!!)

My favorite of all the things we get to take part in is the afternoon feeding, when I get to play "Kirsiana Jones" on the back of the hey truck. (Getting it done with a little fun...)

And yesterday I got to ride on the back of "thunder" and "Lightning", the draft horse team that is used for feeding half of the ranch horses. It was one of the best experiences here yet! A beautiful sunny afternoon on a hay wagon observing the driving master teaching one of the interns about driving the draft team.

I have truly had the most amazing past 5 months of my entire life! And fortunately I get to continue on as an extern starting January 15TH.

The picture in my mind of a happy life as I imagined it is starting to form clearer each day I spend here at the Parelli ranch. I have no idea what will be along-side the road ahead, but for the first time in my life I know where I want to go, and I am passionately excited about it. 2011 is going to be my best year yet!

Dave Ellis Clinic

2009-12-31T10:32:00.000-08:00

For a few years now I have been dreaming about attending one of the Parelli instructor's clinic In November -09 that dream came true. Dave Ellis, one of only a handful of fife star instructors had a clinic in Gilroy, Ca. Close enough for me to make it possible to go.

I have to say though, that something had to change for me before I could decide to go to this clinic. For a long time I had kept myself in a state of mind, that I would never be able to attend any clinics, with a few good excuses like I didn't have the money to spend or I didn't have a trailer to haul my horse with. A bit of coaxing from a friend was in order. So in a car on the way to our Wilton Play day Joanne boldly told me that I was just holding myself back with all the negative thinking and that I can't just sit still waiting for my dreams to come true, I have to get off my... umm... donkey and make my dreams come true! It was a slap on the face. But one of those "thanks I needed that" moments (can’t thank her enough.)

That night I told Debbie, BASP director to save me a spot at Dave Ellis clinic.

Joanne had even offered to trailer Madeira for me, so she had picked her up a day before the clinic started. Thus Madeira was waiting form me at the Ruiz ranch when I arrived there early Friday morning. It was good, because she had had a bit more time to adjust and seemed fairly calm.

Dave started with introductions at Deb and Craig's courtyard while we enjoyed complimentary coffee and treats. Afterwards we gathered in the arena with our horses at the end of twelve foot lines. We spent the morning going through the first three games on the ground. Dave really empathizing on focus. Pat's lines flowed easily from his lips with a unique Dave twist. He was funny and clever the way he taught quoting both Pat and Linda in the most respectful of ways.

I always wondered if being taught by anyone other than Pat or Linda would be as gratifying and as much fun, but Dave was most definitely the next best thing to Pat.

It's funny how we have been playing these games for quite some time now, applying them to all sorts of obstacles and situations, and Dave took us right back to the basics filling in little holes that we either overlooked, forgot or never "got" before.

I know I have to appreciate how far I have evolved in my horsemanship, but I'm looking at the road ahead, excitedly, and seeing how much more there is in the depths of this program that I can learn. It's a never ending process and though I'm verging on level three I feel like I’ve only just begun.

We had another fabulous lunch at the Ruiz ranch huddled next to the outdoor fireplace and avidly reflecting back on the mornings activity.

In the afternoon we saddled up and after spending time on "pre-flight checks" we mounted with savvy. We played with lateral bends and rein positions. What I learned about myself was that I must really slow down and pay attention to all the little details, because each little step is meaningful for the horse. Madeira was really well responsive. (She was even responding to things I had no idea I had asked.)

Not long after we mounted though the weather turned on us and we were soaked with a cold november rain while our horses wanted nothing more than to turn their hind quarters against the needling wind. Dave called for a break and we ended up keeping from the rain in one of Deb and Craig's garages where Dave carried out a small teaching session. After the rain died down we saddled back up and had an enriching rest of the afternoon practicing transitions.

I was very pleased of the outcome of the day. Madeira earned an extra treat, and after putting the horses up for the night a group of us went out to dinner. I certainly must sound like a broken record by now, but I can't stop empathizing what a great group the Bay area savvy players is. it is just so much fun to “hang” with these savvy people. We all had a great time and even gained a couple of new members who fit right in.

A few of us stayed over night at the ranch. After that full fun filled day I was ready for bed by 8:30 p.m. and slept like a baby through the night.

Saturday morning opened up cold, but sunny and beautiful. I just love waking early in the morning and seeing the horses right outside the window. After making some coffee and goodies ready for breakfast we fed the horses. Dave started again precisely at nine am. He talked briefly during breakfast and then we played ground games through the morning learning about circling game and changing direction to get a desired change out of the horse. Dave had periodically used a student’s horse to demonstrate various things and for the circling game he asked to borrow Madeira. It was exhilarating to watch him play with my horse. And I nearly floated away as he handed her back to me making a comment about what a cool horse she is. (I of course knew that, but hey, Dave said it!)

For the afternoon we saddled up and rode patterns. Again focus was a huge part of reaching the desired result. We learned a pattern at a walk, then practiced it at a trot and finally tried at a canter. That is when my emotions rose up and frustration got the best of me as Madeira became impulsive. What really stuck with me powerfully though, was the fact, that after I gave up in frustration Dave rode over and said: “Pet your horse now.” And I realized that not getting the task done was not the important thing, but the way I would handle the situation. Stopping to pat Madeira when she became right brain fostered our relationship, which should always come before the task. We could practice the task again in a better state of mind, but a dent in a relationship would have taken us straight back to square one.

I’m so very pleased at myself for deciding to take the necessary steps in making this clinic a reality for me. It was just as amazing of an experience as I had dreamed it to be.

The most important thing I learned, was that I really must use more focus. It makes such a huge difference for the horse when the person is focused on exactly what they are asking.

I also must slow down and make myself more clear by paying attention to all the little steps in the process of learning to communicate effectively. It is about so much more than just an effective phase four (which I still need practice on by the way.)

I must put more emphasis on the little steps leading to phase four. “What happens before what happens happens” has to be significant and clearly enough “spoken” so phase four becomes less necessary.

Now I also have broken the barrier I kept about not being able to attend clinics. Yes I still have to save like crazy and find a trailer, but no problem is too big to overcome with a savvy attitude. I can’t wait for the next clinic!!

Look at that nice straight line.

Hey, where is my FOCUS!

Dave coaching Lori.

Cici Bower, our own one star instructor who was assisting Dave at the clinic.

Joanne

Will with Debbie (BASP director)

And even the dogs had a great time.

Halloween playday

2009-11-03T11:07:00.000-08:00

At the approaching of the very exciting Halloween playday, that Sherrill was hosting in October at the Summerwind ranch in Wilton Ca, I had placed a post at the BASP site looking for anyone traveling there who would have room in their trailer for two extra horses. It was a long shot, I thought, but within this amazing group of people it didn't take long at all for someone to offer us a ride. Joanne Beatty not only offered to pick us up all the way from Hollister in her four horse trailer with living quarters, but also offered us to camp under her awning, which turned out to be quite an adventure.

We loaded up midday on Friday and for the first time it was great to have such an experienced Parelli person as Joanne on our side. (Especially since I'm certain I felt more nervous than Madeira did, which I realized the first time Madeira stepped on the ramp as my hand tightened around the rope and Madeira pulled against the pressure banging her head in the sealing:(!!) Without any Badgering from outsiders we were able to take the time our horses needed to be comfortable before closing them in.

It was the longest trailer ride Steal and Madeira had taken since... well, for at least 10 years. Two and a half hours. I was hoping they would be completely desensitized to the trailer by our arrival, but they were both sweating nervously when we finally unloaded at Sherrill's ranch.

Aahhh... What a beautiful ranch it was. A nice little ranch house on the front with a garden. A brand new looking breezeway barn. Additional covered paddocks and turnouts. Huge pasture. Lighted arena with a sound system (wow!!) And the best of all, a huge playground with a fantastic set up of toys including jumps, platforms, "carwash," teeter-totter etc. A dream place!

After stretching out a little in the arena Steal and Madeira settled in their paddocks with dinner.

And as everyone had arrived we all went out to a local restaurant for a really great dinner with great friends and great savvy stories to share.

Steal and Madeira are of course just fine where ever they are as long as they are together. And together meaning less than a meter apart from one another. But on Saturday as we began our great play day event and Steal drifted off to a different group, Madeira's other horsenality, MADeira kicked in. Right brain, very extroverted and flighty with ear piercing neighing. Luckily I was pared up with Deb, who was quick to recognize, that Madeira, although unconfident and nervous was not nearly as scared as she was just mad. She was snaking her head at me, giving me her "hiny" and pushing her shoulder on me. And as I was quite passively accepting this rude behavior she was paying no attention to me. Deb gave me some great tips on how to get her attention, keep her feet moving and focus on the task, thus we were able to connect a bit better. However there was a point where Deb took Madeira on a backwards stroll around the playground and it was amazing how her persistent energy demanded Madeira's full attention.

Once again we had a great potluck lunch. This group really knows how to feast!

In the afternoon it was time for the riding games. And voila! Madeira was cool as a cucumber. Of course Steal remained in the proximity of about 30 meters of us, but she was so calm that I felt very comfortable about getting on her and riding around, through, over and under potentially scary objects.

Virpi lucked out being paired up with Andrew, who as it turned out would make an excellent instructor. One of my highlights was to observe him so enthusiastically sharing his knowledge and skills while helping Virpi and Steal.

Later in the evening he also gave us a lesson in controlling our emotions while delivering an effective "phase four." I had actually thought I had a good phase four. Tuns out I'm a total wimp. The object was to hit a trash bin with the carrot-stick as hard as one could and then immediately be able to bring down the energy and hug someone. Much harder than you would think. And quite surprisingly for me the first time I hit the bin I found myself very shaken. Hmm, how interesting.

Most people headed home after the riding session, but a few of us stayed for dinner and for an extra night. We sat in Sherrill's garden for yet another great meal and a good bottle of wine. Cats, dogs, donkeys. Horses peacefully munching their hey in the background. Dusk. Fresh country air. Rising moon. Our bubbly laughter echoing in the night...

We packed up in the morning and after an all American breakfast at Bert's diner, and a visit to the local tack store it was time to load up the horses and head home.

What a great weekend! Once again I have to praise this wonderful group of Bay area savvy players. Such experienced horse people who are always willing to step up to help others and share their knowledge. Virpi and I are so lucky to have found this group and to be part of it.

Special thanks to Sherrill for hosting this awesome playday. Joanne for making that huge loop to pick us up and give us a ride, and for letting us bunk with you (no room for spiders in this story! :) Deb for paring up with me and helping out with Madeira. Andrew for the lessons. And everyone else for great company and great food!

Sherrill and Summerwind

Stand on the tarp with a devil aoutfit for 7 seconds.

Slalom on liberty

In the haunted cave.

Andrew coaching Virpi.

Stephanie, Deb and Greg.

Andrew's horse got bored waiting on him and played with the obstacles on his own.

Straw bale maze.

Phase four blow... and then a hug.

The Birthday girl!

This was where we slept. With Okey and Dokey!

Lesson with Cici

2009-09-24T13:12:00.000-07:00

Well, it has been a very busy summer for me. I haven't had nearly as much horsey time as I had planned. And here we are, the end of September. And although the last few weeks we've had pretty much the best weather of the whole summer, it seems that the autumn is creeping up on us faster that we are ready for. Bright orange pumpkins decorate the fields of Half Moon Bay once again, and the excitement of Halloween is in the air.

Virpi and I had the most exciting weekend since the BASP playday we attended in July. Cici Bower, a licensed one star Parelli professional, came over to give us each a two hour private lesson. It was amazing!!

We often feel so disconnected from the natural horse world being stuck in an environment surrounded with the "normality" of the traditional horse handling methods.

Working with Cici was incredibly eye opening and empowering. She has such a great energy. Her knowledge and experience is so prodigious I felt as if I was getting a lesson from a three star instructor instead. It was amazing how fast and accurately she evaluated both of our horses, Madeira and Mei Li, and knew exactly without thinking, as if it was an embedded insight in her, what to do in each spontaneously arising situation. I was thoroughly impressed. She brought with her a vibrant, vivid atmosphere we were left basking in for the rest of the day.

Pat Parelli often says: "you don't know what you don't know, until you know it." It's a wise saying. Virpi and I now know a little more about what we didn't know, we didn't know before. I have been working so hard to get Madeira to be left brain and calm, (see horsenality chart) that she has become a very calculative left brain introverted horse who challenges my leadership to the fullest. It has been easier for me to internalize that she would be innately a right brain extroverted horse, which she appeared to be for the longest time. Cici helped me realize, that she only becomes unconfident in new situations where she doesn't trust her leader. She literally remained right brain until she became to trust me. Now with her unleashed left brain she is bored out of her mind and thinks I'm a "jolly ball."

Having always picked the unconfident, more energetic horses to work with (surprise, surprise) I have concentrated the majority of my studies on the right brain extroverted horsenality and now have plenty of strategies on how to calm a RB horse. However I have to admit that I have no insights to handling a left brain horse. Reflecting back on Cici's lesson I need to find ways to become more provocative for Madeira and formulate a learning state of mind by kindling a bit of that right brain back into her. My journey into the mind of a LB introvert starts here.

One of the most powerful lessons from Cici came through simulations. Although we have seen Linda Parelli do countless of simulations on videos, and as interesting it is to see how people react to them, it almost seems silly to compare a human with a horse, because afterall we know what is happening and can logically think through the task. It took me completely by surprise how powerfully it affected me to be the one on the place of a horse. To feel what the horse feels.

I have been struggling with the figure eight pattern. Above all having enough draw to bring Madeira back around the barrel. She would get stuck behind the barrel. I had no idea that me focusing on her was creating so much pressure, that she did not want to come toward me. When Cici "clipped" a rope on me and send me around the barrels just as I had done with Madeira it was an instant light bulb flicking on in my head. I learned to redirect my focus to where Madeira felt no pressure and it instantly changed the result. Now our figure eight works beautifully.

virpi took her lesson with Mei Li, her new center of attention, who came to us back in March. Mei Li is a delightful little Arab mare. Playful and curious. But has a bit of a right brain introvert side, which is why she had a reputation of a "Crazy" horse. Virpi has enjoyed her very much though. The two of them are a great fit and make a fantastic team.

Someone asked me after our lesson about natural horsemanship and whether it really worked on my horse. I told him I don't know, but it worked on me. We must realize while interacting with horses, that it is not the horse that needs to change for our convenience. It is us humans, who must adjust our attitudes and open up our minds to understand horses, to learn to read them and to communicate with them without force. Horses never bargained for humans to bully them around. They are forgiving animals who love to be our partners, play with us, work with us and win with us if only we can learn to be affective leaders, prove to them that we can be trusted, and treat them with respect and dignity. Love, language and leadership (in equal doses.)

Finally a playday!

2009-07-05T10:00:00.000-07:00

Ever since Virpi and I joined the Bay area savvy players group, we have been wanting to attend to one of the Parelli playdays they host each month. It has been difficult to plan the trip with our horses, not owning a trailer, But last month when I read about the upcoming playday it sounded like so much fun, that I decided to call the one person we know who owns a trailer, Ronda.

We were in luck. Ronda was available with a short notice and so on Sunday morning at 8 am after a "piece of cake" trailer loading we were on a way to our first ever Parelli playday.

We were excited about the day and laughed the whole one hour and fifteen minute drive down to Gilroy.

Steal and Madeira, who haven't trailered for at least 3 years were unexpectedly calm as we unloaded them at the the most beautiful place, a real horsey heaven, the Ruiz ranch.

The arena was set up with various, potentially scary obstacles in the most imaginative way. Virpi and I were put into separate groups and at first Madeira was quite right brain and nervous. She kept calling for Steal at the other end of the arena and Steal called back. It was like some Romeo and Juliet drama. I had to get her nervous feet moving, do lots of changing direction and focus, focus, focus to bring down her adrenaline. And the result completely exceeded my expectations. Although every once in a while she kept calling for her Romeo, she was still connected with me and completed each task with dignity. I was incredibly pleased and so very proud of her.

We played ground games until noon with a finale of firecrackers, which were set off in the middle of the arena. I was prepared for Madeira to be leaping thought the air in panic at the end of my 22 foot line as soon as the firecrackers would go off. Amazingly, I was wrong. She spooked at the first set of firecrackers, but her feet never moved. The second set of firecrackers, she never even flinched. Unbeliveable! Astonishing! Dumbfounding!

Aawww, my extreme right brain extrovert has come such a long way. I know I've said this before, but again, it is truly amazing what can be accomplished with horses, using only one ingredient, trust!

Madeira and Steal had a well deserved break in one of the paddocks in the barn while we ate our potluck lunch. They lounged about happily munching their hey.

After lunch it was time for mounted games. Virpi and I had planned to only observe the riding part of the playday, since we had expected our mounts to be pretty much unrideable. However it turned out, that Madeira and Steal were both so unexpectedly calm, that we felt comfortable getting on them and trying out the obstacles.

It went fantastically. all we did was walked around the arena for a few minutes surrounded by other horses and riders playing with the scary obstacles. And when we got to a point that we felt the horses were in a desired state of mind we decided it was time to call it a day.

We had so much fun! It was the best day! Thank you so much Deb for welcoming us to your beautiful place, and for everyone involved organizing such a fantastic playday.

Steal and the ferocious green ball.

Madeira on the teeter-totter.

Steal backing up under the huge tarp.

I love this one with her hind feet tipi toeing, just barely on the pedestal.

A shot of savvy

2009-05-22T14:19:00.000-07:00

It is the middle of May and sparkling snow still decorates the rocky tops of Sierras surrounding the "biggest little city in the world," Reno, Nevada.

Tall, colorfully illuminated casinos and hotels, the Reno lights were a welcoming sight as we drove into town late Wednesday night excited as ever, not about the usual Reno scene, gambling and shows, but the 2009 Parelli Celebration held in the Reno livestock center.

I was one of the few lucky ones chosen to volunteer at the event and needles to say, I was ecstatic.

Thursday morning we were at the event arena at 7:50 AM. After a short orientation, we spent most of the day setting up the retail area for the weekend. Teamwork seemed effortless with like minded people, who all had such a positive and progressive attitude. It was great to work along with the Parelli celebration team. People who are nothing less but celebrities for us. And on the brakes we had the opportunity to watch some of them play with their horses in the arena.

The chosen "savvy spotlighters" had also arrived and getting ready for Friday's show. Heaps of savvy filled the arena as everyone was playing various versions of the seven games with big smiles on their faces (except for the occasional "shwiegermutter" looks) having so much fun and doing the most amazing things with their horses. Amongst them Cici Bowers and her horse Magic from the Bay area savvy players group.

My job for the weekend was to answer questions on the floor and to help people sign up for Share Parelli. And oh boy was it busy! I bet most of the nearly 2000 people that attended wanted to sign up. I thoroughly enjoyed meeting so many new people who all share the same great passion, as well as reuniting with friends we have made at various other Parelli events in the past. This is truly a community where everyone speaks the same language and what is best, everyone is smiling, happy and united no matter what level of savvy they are at. I am so honored to be part of it.

It was also interesting to be on the "other side of the curtain" and see what happens behind the scene.

At the end of each day Alain Martignier, the celebration manager asked what were the highlights of the show. There were so many to pick from, but for me, just one of the many a hug from Walter Zettl.

Linda and Remmer did beautifully under Walter's coaching. It was remarkable to see how Linda always put the relationship before the task, and how Remmer seemingly enjoyed the lesson as much as Linda did.

Kalley Krickeberg with the Atwood ranch yearlings was phenomenal!!!

Lauren Barwick, a gold medalist at the China 2008 special Olympics performed her winning program and after ending her story with a thank you to the Parellis... Wow! Not a dry eye in the audience.

And of course it is always so refreshing and inspirational to observe and listen to Pat. It was most fascinating to see how much progress he made in such a short amount of time with the rescue horse donated by the United states humane Society.

The savvy spotlights on Friday were fantastic! It was so great to see ordinary people, like us doing such amazing things with their horses. There was an extraordinary aura of support and understanding in the audience even when horses fell right brain and things didn't go according to plan. This is definitely not something very often seen in the normal competition world.

Amazing, amazing weekend!

We were still in high spirits on Monday as we left the snow caped mountains behind and headed home. Car packed with new Parelli tools, singing along with Virpi on the guitar. All excited to see our own horses again.

Lauren Barwick and Maile
Kalley Krickeberg with yearlings from Atwood ranch.

Pat playing with the rescue horse

Pat and Walter Zettl.
Linda Parelli and Remmer getting ready for a private lesson with Walter.

As nearly 2000 people watch, pat sets the rescue horse up for success, then takes cautious steps to ensure she is left brain and calm before getting on and riding around. This is just minutes after she blew up into a bucking fury. But Pat's timing was perfect. His ability to read the horse is so profound. I wish I could just "right click" on his brain, copy all the knowledge and paste it into mine.

Virpi's L1- Online

2009-04-26T09:27:00.001-07:00

Here it is, finally. Virpi's level 1- online audition.
Steal, the poor old fella has not got much speed, but he is attentive and clearly asking questions.
They did a great job!

Level 2 stuff with Madeira

2009-02-20T06:38:00.001-08:00

Thinking under pressure

2009-01-15T20:52:00.000-08:00

So much has happened since Kim passed...

Little Candy moved into Kim's old stall right next to Madeira and although Madeira would never admit it, she really, actually likes her there. We regularly turn the four of them, Madeira, Steal, Candy and baby Leila out together and they all get along just fine.

Madeira and I have had a couple of break throughs in our journey this past few months. Despite the fact that she kicked me, she is really trying to communicate and do the right thing. Sometimes she tries so hard, that she anticipates what I want from her and does it before I even have the chance to ask. (She is reading my mind.) Sometimes her anticipations are incorrect and she does something I wasn't going to ask her to do, but I don't make her feel wrong about it, but just take what ever she offers. At least she is trying.

She is really starting to become more confident and left brain through our training, though she is innately a right brain extrovert. It is fun and interesting to observe all these different horsenalities emerging out of her. She still shows off her "wild" side every now and then, but I'm starting to detect more exuberance in that behavior instead of fear. She is also really trying to think her way through stressful situations instead of "flying off the handle" when she gets into a sticky spot. Here's the proof, that what ever I am doing is really working for her advantage, and as a result she is getting smarter and calmer, and able to think under pressure.

One day Virpi had gone to the ranch and taken Steal out into the arena. Then before she had gotten to Madeira she had stopped to chat with Debbi. In a mean while Madeira had grown impatient and started pawing in her paddock, wanting to get out. Virpi had just hollered at her to stop pawing and in her amazement she had soon stopped as Virpi and Debbi chatted on for about another 15 minutes. What Virpi didn't realize was, that the water hose, which was tied around the paddock fence had become loose and somehow Madeira had pawed her foot through the loop and gotten stuck!!! Just imagine a few years ago she would certainly have panicked and struggled to get free, most likely braking her leg in the process. But now she just stood there not moving a muscle until Virpi finally realized what had happened and went to free her. What a smart horse she has become!

This is why we play with our horses in all sorts of "funny" ways, letting ropes and hoses and Christmas tree ribbons tangle into their feet, to set them up for success when things really go wrong.

Christmas time came and went and of course we shared that special time with our loved ones, the horses. Here are some of our precious Christmas moments.

Close call

2009-01-12T22:18:00.000-08:00

On a Friday just before Christmas Madeira and I were having a fabulous play session on liberty. We were doing a rather fast paced "stick to me," trotting through the weave pattern, canter-trot-walk transitions, squeezing over cavaletties etc. Everything was working out beautifully and we were having so much fun, until I decided to try it staying on Madeira's right side. I should have known better!

I know she is still very sensitive and shy about her right side, especially on zone four (the kick zone.) She gets nervous when she feels pressure in zone four on her right side and has a tendency to react with a lashing out kick. I should have prepared for success by desensitizing her right side while having a lead rope on her at first, but I got caught up in the moment of a thrill and went overboard.

So as soon as I started to "canter" and Madeira followed my lead she got confused about me being on her right and got impulsive. She past me just slightly, which left me in zone four. I realized it immediately and knew what would happen so I turned around to run away from her, to take off the pressure and to get out of the kick zone. I was too slow. Her right hind hoof hit me just above the hip on my lower back. The force of the impact jerked my body backwards in an unnatural way and I was flown to the ground like a rag doll. Madeira flipped around immediately as she realized I was laying on the ground, and trotted back over to see what was wrong. I don't know if she really meant to kick me, I'd like to think it was only a right brain reaction, but she looked genuinely concerned.

For the first few moments as I lay there in pain and someone asked if I could feel my toes, a horrible thought of a worst case scenario flashed through my mind. I had no idea where exactly she had hit me, for the pain seared through my entire back worsening at every breath. I wondered whether I would ever walk again. It's amazing how your brain works in a stressful situations. For a minute I didn't even want to try to get up in fear, that I wouldn't be able to.

The x-rays showed no broken bones and it seemed my internal organs were in tact, so I was given a shot of morphine for the pain and send home with four bottles of different medications for pain, nausea and something to protect my overly sensitive stomach lining from the hard core pain pills. I was knocked out until the next morning, when I awoke with a perfect, purple hoof print just above my hip. That's when I knew exactly where she had hit me.

I was very, very lucky, that Madeira managed to kick me pretty much on the fattest part of my body. Thank goodness for all that "padding" I have been growing and nourishing lately with my Christmas style eating habits. Had she kicked me just two inches to the right she would have gotten my spine. I'm sure the outcome of that would have been different.

I have also never been happier about my decision to pull off Madeira's shoes and keep her barefoot, for that impact with steel shoes would no doubt have gone straight through my "padding" and done much more damage.

Getting kicked by a horse is a scary thing. It certainly scared my friends and family who's immediate response to the news were, that I needed to quit horses. Well, of course that's not going to happen, but as they say, that things happen for reason, I have been trying to search for that reason. Perhaps it was to inflict fear in me. Enough to slow down and check in with myself every once in a while, that I am within the lines of safety and setting things up for success. I realize, that the horses I interact with are not the "ordinary school horses" which are selected by their calm disposition, but most often high spirited, emotionally scattered, complicated creatures. They need understanding of their individual, unique characteristics, innate nature and problematic pasts, as well as skill to handle and deal with all of it. Sometimes much more than I have.

Fear is a good thing. It is your body's way of alerting you of a possible danger. We should all listen to it. However, I have been extremely confident and comfortable with most horses I handle for quite some years. I have been especially confident in trusting Madeira, who in turn is becoming more confident and trusting towards me, which is a great thing, except for the fact, that as she is becoming more and more left brain she is also starting to challenge my leadership more.

Well, all I can conclude is, that I had luck on my side and, that I must learn all I can from this. Next time she kicks, I'll be quicker to get out of the way.

Farewell Kim!

2008-10-23T09:04:00.000-07:00

The Sun has set on Kim down on earth. Yesterday she flew into the great green pastures of heaven.

Poor Kim faded fast the past week. She stopped eating almost completely, only taking in about an eighth of what she had been eating. She quickly lost all the weight she had gained this past year, and more. Her nose bled constantly and she wobbled around her paddock pumping into the walls, too weak to stand, but too adamant to lay down. She became extremely dehydrated. Feverish and sweaty she kept dunking her face into her water trough unable to actually drink. The diarrhea stopped. There was nothing more to come out.
Finally yesterday she lay down. It was time. The vet came to put her to sleep.
Virpi was with her when she flew away.
Farewell Kim!
We'll always remember her and will miss her soft nickers as she always greeted us upon hearing our voices. We know she is in a better place and we know, that she died feeling loved.

This is the very last photo I took of her a week ago. Peacefully snoozing on the grass, in a warm sun. One of her favorite things to do.

Catching Game

2008-10-20T23:22:00.000-07:00

I had the most interesting weekend!
A few months ago some guy had purchased himself a horse from an auction. A little sorrel Arabian mare, who came to live at the ranch. She was skin and bones, a scrawny little thing, and had a halter on, that was embedded into her head. (Must have been a cheap buy.) The first time the owner had tried to ride this skittish mare out on the trail she had spooked and bolted. The owner, an inexperienced horse handler and rider, that he was, fell off slamming into a fence post and broke his leg. The mare had later been released into the “skinny” pasture to gain some weight, while the owner was recuperating.
Couple of weeks ago the owner came back, but, as it turned out, he couldn’t catch the mare from the pasture. Apparently realizing his inexperience he had asked one of the ranch hands to help him catch the mare, then train and ride her. So last weekend they had been out there trying to rope the poor little mare, but without any success they had soon thrown their ropes to the ground in frustration and given up.
Hmmm… I was very intrigued.
So one morning I walked out into the “skinny” pasture with carrots in my back pocket, without any ropes, intentions or expectations. There are fife horses total in the “skinny” pasture. Old Blaze, the heard leader came up to me right away trailed by Montana and the Arab mare. After giving Blaze a carrot and lots of good love I began to look very interesting to Montana and the Arab. They both crept closer, took a carrot and I walked away. The next time I went in the trio came to greet me nickering. I gave them all carrots, walked around the pasture as they followed, then left. I had set it up for success.
On two occasions I had gotten closer to the Arab, than the owner and the ranch hand, so they decided to go in with carrots and give it a try.
It didn’t work.
Finally they asked my help to catch her, and of course I was all too excited to do it.

I have to mention at this point, that a few years ago, before I started to study natural horsemanship I considered myself a very experienced horse person. However, after discovering this new dimension and having to rethink and adjust a lot of things I know, that although I have gotten to be rather good at it I’m far from being the excellent horseperson, that I hope to become. After learning the catching game (or call it “join up” if you please) I have NEVER had trouble catching a horse. And it has never taken much longer, than approximately 15 minutes, even out in the great big pasture.
However…
One of Pat Parelli’s favorite quotes is: “I’ve never seen it take longer than two days.”
About two hours into my catching game with the Arab I knew, that this was going to take me two days.

It was still dark when I got to the ranch on Saturday morning. Madeira was surprised to see me. I let her out to nibble on some grass while I finished my tea. Then I put her back in to wait for her breakfast, stuffed my pockets with carrots and walked out to the “skinny” pasture with a halter and a lead rope.
The same trio of horses came to greet me softly nickering, blaze in lead. I gave them all a carrot as I had done the previous times, but as soon as the Arabian saw the lead rope swaying off my shoulder she spun around and fled.
I smiled and went on greeting all the rest of the horses and giving them some long needed TLC. The Arab stood staring at me from the other end of the pasture. As I paid no attention to her she crept closer and closer until she was right back in the herd. I decided to see where she was drawing her lines and walked towards her retreating each time she became unconfident. I quickly discovered, that her personal space, her “bubble” was incredibly large, but she was also very tolerant. I could have walked very close to her without her moving, but I would have offended her. So I proceeded with the catching game and within about 30 minutes she was following me around in the pasture, but never closer than about 2 meters away. Each time I offered my hand for her to sniff, she reached for it with flattened back ears and a crunched up muzzle. I did not want to accept her with that look, so I drove her forehand away figuring, that perhaps I needed to establish some respect.
As I went on I realized, that this horse who had first looked like a right brain extrovert (which would have been a much easier task for me) was very much a left brain introvert, who would come at me with pinned ears and bared teeth, and swing her hind quarters towards me threatening to kick. But she would turn into a right brain extrovert in a split second if she got worried. And she got worried a lot. She seemed to also be extremely sensitive. It took very little to communicate with her and she learned things so fast I was astonished. But she had absolutely no faith in people and she just could not bring herself to trust me.

Pat’s quote ringing in my ears I stood in the middle of the pasture questioning whether I had developed enough savvy at this point to go through with this task. This horse was very smart and obviously had serious trauma from her past. Was I qualified to handle this? But I knew I had to keep trying, because if I didn’t succeed the guys would come back with a whole “vaquero” army to corner, and rope the poor mare, and it would not be pretty.

At 8:30 am the guys came to feed. Fife flakes of alfalfa were thrown in next to the fence. Blaze got the first one. The other three found theirs, and I stood next to the last flake. The Arab tried coming around to her flake. She pinned her ears snaking her head at me. I drove her away. She galloped around the pasture snorting and tossing her head. Every time she came around the food I drove her away. After running around for a few minutes she swung around, stood about ten meters away and stared at me. I quickly turned my back on her and waited. Slowly, slowly she walked over right behind me and sniffed me all over. She sniffed my back, my hair and the lead rope, that hung off my shoulder. Slowly I turned around and offered my hand for her. She looked away. I pulled my hand away. She looked back at me. I offered my hand again. She looked away. I pulled my hand away. She looked back at me. We went back and forth like this for a while until she finally sniffed my hand. I turned around, picked up a handful of alfalfa and offered it to her. She was hungry. I felt bad about keeping her from eating, but I could always feed her later and I saw this as a great opportunity to gain her respect. After receiving a mouthful she wanted more. She pinned her ears and snaked her head at me. I drove her away. This time I kept her running a bit longer. She looked beautiful prancing around the pasture in the early morning sun with her tail flying high behind her.

Three hours had passed. I went on with the catching game. The other four had finished all of the alfalfa, even the fifth flake meant for the Arabian. She hung her head low and submissive as I stood right next to her. Close enough to touch, close enough to put my rope around her neck. But I had no intention of doing either.
I retreated instead. I fetched another flake of alfalfa set it down and she walked right over to eat as I stood next to her shooing away the other four greedy mouths, that all wanted her food and knew they ranked much higher in the herd than the little mare. But now I was building rapport by protecting her while she ate peacefully. It was literally blowing her mind. I stood there for a whole hour so she could eat without being bothered. Then I left.
I was hungry too, and Madeira had been staring at me from her stall for the past two hours.

After spending some time with Madeira, Steal, Kim and baby Leila, checking on Candy who is still lame, and taking care of all their needs, I returned to the “skinny” pasture a few hours later. I caused the Arabian almost immediately to follow me and she stood next to me licking and chewing. Very gently I reached out and stroked her neck close to her withers and although cautiously, she accepted it. What an incredible feeling! She had accepted me. I didn’t even have to put a rope around her neck to prove it. She was as good as caught.
I stroked her on both sides until she licked and chewed, and decided it was enough. I said good night and left.

The guy who had asked my help was disappointed thinking I had failed to catch her. Some of the others sneered maliciously. I tried explaining to them that I had already caught her, but without having to actually brought the horse out no one believed me.
They were getting ready to rope her the next day.
But I got up early again the next morning, walked out into the “skinny” pasture and caught the mare. I walked her into the small arena and left her there with a flake of alfalfa.
All yours, I said. I’m washing my hands from this. But later on I had to help halter her. She is very sensitive around her muzzle. Hey, give her a break, just a few months ago she had a halter growing around her nose.
The guy, who is suppose to train her took my advice to heart though, and did very well haltering her and working with her slowly. The guy has so much potential. And, thank God, he let her back out into the pasture and even took the halter off afterwards.

Autumn thoughts

2008-10-12T19:01:00.000-07:00

The autumn is here once more. The early mornings are so cold and dark now, that getting out of bed at 5:30am just seems so overwhelming. Can't wait to turn the clocks back, to sleep an extra hour in the morning. The traffic over the hill to Half Moon Bay seems overwhelming too. Yesterday it took me and hour and a half to do the normal 20minute drive. Everyone is travelling to the pumpkin town for some pre Halloween fun.

While the days have still been beautifully sunny and warm, the horses sure are getting fluffier by the day. Believe it or not, this is the underside of Madeira's belly. Yep, she is pretty furry down there.

Madeira is still lame. the second set of x-rays showed an abscess, that had traveled from the toe, around the coffin bone to the medial side of the hoof. She also has "pedal osteitis," which is defined as demineralization of the solar margin of the distal phalanx as a result of inflammation.

This could have been caused by any kind of trauma to the foot in the past and may not have any relevance to her lameness, however, it's difficult to tell. In the mean time her foot stays wrapped with Epsom salt poultice, and is soaked with Epsom salts four times a week, in hopes of clearing the abscess. For the most part she has been walking well so we have taken walks on the trail. The movement would also help the abscess to move out faster. But every ones in a while she comes up three legged lame and stays in her stall drugged with bute. Poor lady Madeira. She has been such a good sport through all of this, and has definitely learned to put on her most adorable face to receive extra treats.

The vet said it could take weeks for the abscess to clear. I am of course getting impatient and discouraged already. But I have faith, that something good will come of all the hardship we must endure. I have spend hours and hours of "undemanding" time with Madeira. And it is the art of doing nothing, which horses so readily appreciate, that keeps strengthening our relationship. Now, that the flies are so bad I take off her halter while soaking her foot, and use it to shoo flies off her face and legs. She appreciates the help and dozes off until the soak is over. Isn't it great how even the most annoying little flying creatures can be useful helping us bond.
Although I'm trying to spend as much time as I can with Madeira, my horseplaying days are far from standstill because of her condition. There are plenty of horses to play with and ones to ride. Tuff provides a good comfy ride, and Igor's horse "Sad Eyes" has been an interesting new playmate. And then of course there is baby Leila, Kim and Candy who all need their special love and attention.

Candy has been extremely lame the past two weeks. We believe that she has relapsed with laminitis, but the ranch manager believes otherwise. Without a proper vet exam it's hard to tell. She has been laying down in her stall unable to get up.

Kim found a comfortable patch of grass to lay on while wandering out in the sun last weekend. She dozed off for a while and dreamed of places where she could see again. Sadly, after doing so well at gaining weight for nearly a year, she has started to loose it again. Her nose is often bloody and she is not eating well. There is reason to believe, that she may have some kind of a cancer. She is very old, and after such a hard life she has been happy pretending to be our private horse for the past year, which is much longer, than we anticipated, considering the condition we found her in last December.

Steal's mane flowing in the wind

A home of a gopher living on front of our stalls.

The funny bird, who comes to sing to us all the time and makes the funniest sound.

The Pacific ocean sparkling behind the pasture.

"Red sky at night, sailors delight."

Home sweet home

2008-09-27T10:16:00.000-07:00

We are back to our familiar, busy routine working hard to support ourselves as horse owners. It is not a cheap habit, especially when things go wrong.

The first day of our return from Finland we rushed to the ranch to see the horses and poor Madeira, obviously happy to see me kept nickering while she dragged herself to greet me hopelessly limping.

My heart dropped. What a "great" home coming.

Since then it has been a big up and down lameness roller coaster for us. The vet has seen her a couple of times and is coming back this week.

I'll elaborate on her lameness later on when we have determined the cause of the problem.

All the other horses were happy to see us back too. Especially Kim and the Baby. Kim let out a loud whinny as she heard our voices and the baby paced around her paddock excitedly. Steal was the only one who was upset. He kept giving Virpi his hind end in his introverted way saying "That's for abandoning me!" He forgave quickly though. The next day he was back to his own angelic self.

So after all that rain in Finland we came back to a sweltering heat wave in California. A perfect surfing weather, however the horses, who certainly aren't accustomed to such heat on the coast, and who already have started growing their winter coats, since the daylight is getting shorter, were sweating just standing still. Labor day weekend was one of the busiest weekends of all summer and for three days the poor ranch horses (as if they didn't work hard enough in an ordinary weekend) slumbered back and forth the trail in a record heat.

We bathe Madeira, Steal, Kim, baby Leila and little Candy. Mama pony also came to be sprayed by the fence and several ranch horses splashed around in their man made waterhole.The ponies, Candy and Leila have been turned out together and they absolutely LOVE each other. Candy is the boss of course. She is the biggest little horse on the ranch. They all are fine in the arena together playing their horsey games. Steal and madeira especially enjoy practicing the seven games on the little ones.

But the ponies think they are totally outsmarting the big horses playing the "you can't catch me" game.On Sunday last week the fog finally rolled in and pleasantly cooled us off, so we decided to saddle up Tuff and Cruiser for a little ride.

Me on Tuff and Beverly on Cruiser.

In "Kim's story" last January I mentioned Nevada, the horse who became Kim's eyes and her protection out in the pasture and then was bought and moved away. Well, he is back! We brought him over to Kim's stall to see how they would react to each other. Kim was upset. It was almost as if she was mad, that he had left her there. Nevada was excited to be back though, and is loving it out in the pasture again. And Kim has a new found life. She is doing fantastic and loves hanging out with us.We also had time to visit Sunrise in his Pacifica home. He was very pleasantly surprised to see us.

Check out Madeira in her brand new Renegade hoof boots! Whenever we are walking out on the trail people passing by point and shout "Hey look the horse is wearing crocks too!"

The Finnish horse

2008-08-26T10:56:00.000-07:00

The Finnish horse or "Finnhorse" is the only native horse breed in Finland. It is a lighter coldblooded breed distinguished for it's outstanding constitution, and it is among the fastest and most versatile coldbloods in the world.

The Finnish horse stands between 15-17 hands high. The most common colors are chestnuts and sorrels. They are enduring, hardy, strong muscled horses with good limbs and tough hoofs.

This great horse has as much of inner as outer beauty. They are extremely reliable, honest, willing and very smart. They are most often easily handled, but despite of it's calm disposition the Finnhorse is usually very alert and well spirited. it is the perfect all around horse.

The exact descent of the Finnhorse is unclear. It most likely evolved from some northern European warm and coldblooded breeds. However it's true origin is buried into the midst of the prehistoric unknown.

Some say the breed is over 1000 years old and there is definite evidence, that the Finnish horse existed already back in the middle ages. In 1555 the breed is mentioned in a book about the northern nations, which was written in Latin by a Swedish pope, Olaus Magnus Gothus. The book was published in Rome. The mention of the Finnish horse was: "Equi Finnonici. Bonae qualitatis sunt," which means, that the Finnish horses were of good quality.

The Finnish horse studbook celebrated it's 100 year anniversary last year (2007.) It was started on the 17TH of September 1907 in a small northern Finnish town called Ii. The goal of the pure blooded Finnish horse became a good all around farm horse.

In it's history the Finnhorse's most important job serving man became to defend it's country's freedom and independence at war, and the rebuilding of it's home regions after the declaration of peace. There weren't enough horses for the Finnish army, so the court martial ordered all capable working horses to be collected from farms around Finland for the army's use.

There are heart warming stories of how the survived horses were returned to their owners after the wars were over. They were simply let loose at the appropriate railway stations to find their own way home. And they did!

They returned to farm work until the early 1970's when the machinery slowly took over and the Finnish horses future was threatened. The breed was saved by recreational breeders, who like their fathers found, that their working partner also made an excellent sport horse. And the unbelievably versatile and adaptable breed could take on yet even bigger challenges as harness racing horses as well as all around riding horses.

Today there are about 20,000 Finnish horses in Finland (compare to the 400,000 in 1950) and it's population is slowly increasing with approximately 1000 foals born each year.

About 75% of the Finnish horses are harness racing horses, the rest are used in mounted disciplines such as dressage, show jumping, eventing and endurance racing.

Perhaps because it's rich history and perhaps because of it's great all around qualities, the Finnish horse is very much appreciated and celebrated in Finland.

There are several tributes made for the Finnish horse, books, songs, poems and artwork. The breed has it's own special classes at shows and at harness races.

The Finnish people love this special horse, that gave so much in so many ways for their people and their country.

Horsing around in Finland

2008-08-16T22:25:00.000-07:00

During my resent Finland trip I was fortunate to spend a couple of days with a childhood friend of mine, Anu, who competes in show jumping on national level at a "Finnish horse" class. A Finnish horse is a native breed of Finland, and it is so celebrated, that the breed has it's own classes at shows. (Read more about the "Finnhorse" in the previous post.)

The first day, that I visited Anu, she participated in a national competition with her Finnish horse Tahti Tintti "Tiitu" Here they are in action.I was very intrigued to see the competition and I believe a few years back I would have been thrilled about it all together, however now I quickly became shocked of the roughness of some of the riders and quite insensible use of the crop. I could not comprehend that a horse would ever want to go near a jump again after being whipped next to it following a refusal. These are the scenes of the horse world that I grew up around also and sadly it all used to feel normal. Although never have been a very competitive person myself, I still enjoy taking part in shows, but when winning becomes more important, than the relationship between the horse and the rider I cannot appreciate it.

My friend, Anu however did very well breezing through to the second round and taking seventh place (and, by the way, I did not see her whip her horse.) She is an excellent rider and I used to always look up to her. And although we may see things in a bit different light these days, we still had a wonderful time sharing the same passion for horses we both have had since little girls, when we skipped with stick horses through the pines in our backyard. She has taken that passion to the top of show jumping in Finland. As for me, I have turned a new leaf in my horsemanship, that is vast and full of possibilities.

The second day we had a wonderful ride through the forest and galloped up to the top of "Laajavuori" which in winter operates as a ski mountain. The scenery from the top was breathtaking and the ride on the Finnish horse I got to ride, "Hali" was fantastic! The only bummer was, that I wasn't able to carry a camera and take photos, since it poured rain so hard the whole time, that we were soaked through to our underwear when we got back.

Tiitu (on the left) and Hali in their private pasture. Notice the lake on the background. The place was absolutely gorgeous.

On our last week in Finland my friend Kirsi had also organized a trail ride for us in the town of Kuortane (where I was born) at Polestar stable.

Two hours on horseback through the forests and the beautiful Finnish country side with such a great group of people was an unforgettable experience. there were fife of us all together;Virpi and I, my friend Kirsi and another childhood friend of ours, Mia and also our leader, yet another Kirsi, who, as it turned out was an old class mate of Virpi's from grade school. What an interestingly small world.Our leader Kirsi on the very right on her own Finnish horse. Virpi is the second from right on "Fyrry," also a Finnish horse as she had wished. My friend Kirsi in the middle on a very warmblooded "Illi." I'm the second one from the left, on a little German riding pony "myy" who despite all the stable owners warnings behaved like a champ and was in fact quite a pleasurable ride. And My friend Mia on the very right on a Finnish horse "Letti."

We all really had great time and will definitely go back and do it again on our next visit to Finland.Virpi, Mia Kirsi and I.

Independence day!

2008-07-04T23:23:00.000-07:00

Last year we had planned to ride in the Half Moon Bay 4TH of July parade, until at the last minute Steal became lame with what turned out to be laminitis.

Well, this year we didn't plan on it at all, until very late the night before the 4TH we suddenly decided to just saddle up in the morning and go for it.

And so we did. Although in the morning when we were "just saddling up" we realized, that these sort of events do need a little bit of preparation ahead of time. My western saddle pad, which I hardly use was totally unsuitable in looks; an old, shabby and faded, and I had to cut shims out of a piece of felt before being able to use it. We also had absolutely no patriotic decor, but oh well... we pulled things together and went anyway. And Voi'la, we took home a second place as a team in the working cowgirl category.

It was a long day for us and the horses. Just standing on the street waiting for the parade to start for a whole two ours... blaah. Thank goodness for those Cavallo hoof boots! They did not slip on the pavement and provided complete protection for our horses feet with better shock absorbing action and all.
But it was such fun to participate and see so many of our friends from other ranches in the parade as well with their beautifully dressed horses and a sparkling spirit of red white and blue.

Steal was like and old pro. He has been in the parade for so many times, that he was completely desensitised for the parade crowd, flying flags, clapping and yelling people, loud music... The whole drill. Madeira in the other hand was extremely nervous. But even so, she behaved incredibly well. She was trying so very hard to stay calm. I would say, that my constant training for her to think under pressure has really paid off. And since she was not allowed to move her feet, which she was very respectful of, (so proud of her) her nervousness came out in various displaced behaviours, such as nodding her head, shaking her body and constant urinating.

Here are a few photos , that Irene took of the parade horses.

Nicholas on Trampoline, Virpi on Steal, Stefan on Pensacola, and me on Madeira.

Afterwards the horses had certainly earned some grazing time. And although we rubbed them down well with liniment after unsaddling, Madeira's back was sore the next day. I think that four hours of being nervous and tensing up her muscles did it, because her saddle is a well fit.

As for me, I could not wait to kick off those boots!

"In your shoes" by Katie Drake

2008-06-15T22:16:00.001-07:00

Katie Drake performing an acoustic version of her song "In your shoes"
Filmed in the Parelli Natural Horsemanship center in Pagosa Springs, Colorado. Heaven on earth! Where we all want to be!

It's not about the creek!

2008-05-29T22:15:00.000-07:00

The coast is blooming! Everyone is enjoying the beautiful flowers which have all of a sudden sprouted so tall, that the baby nearly drowned in them. She hopped through them like a bunny rabbit and gave us a good laugh. Perhaps they tickled her tummy.
The excitement of summer is in the air in Half Moon Bay with a fresh ocean breeze, and surfers and sunbathers crowding the beaches. It has been very, very long since the last time we rode across the creek. Mainly because of Steal's laminitis and Madeira's suspensory desmitis they both have not been fit for long rides, and for all the time we spent hand walking them, unable to cross the mudhole by foot, the creek seemed like a good turnaround point.
Well couple of weeks ago, unsuspecting any trouble we thought we'd take a longer ride across the creek. It is not usually, that Madeira turns out to be the braver one of the two, but while she had no trouble stepping into the gooey, muddy water, that she sank down to her knees in, it was Steal, who put on the brakes and refused to go any further. Hmmm... How interesting!
Steal is a very introverted horse, who is mostly left brain, but when he goes right brain he has a tendency to freeze. He is not a big, mean, scary horse who would out up a huge fight at all, in fact he would be rather easy to intimidate, and push through just about anything without much predatory effort. However, our goal is to have horses who trust our leadership and are able to THINK their way through problems, going through them from their own will. Had we pushed Steal he would have gone through that creek, but we would have lost all rapport and he would no longer see us as good trustworthy leaders, but recent us for it.
So we took our time with approach and retreat at the edge of the creek, in between the heavy traffic of rental horses and wranglers passing through. Each one of the wranglers stopped to offer us help to whip the horse through the creek. So to make a short story long... How do you explain people, who see horses as robots and slaves, that the issue is not about the creek! And the objective is not only to get the horse to cross the creek, but to go through it confidently.
So when we finally decided to quit and go home after Steal became left brain LOOKING towards the creek, people thought we had miserably failed. We did not bother to explain, that for Steal it was the first step in crossing the creek confidently, that he was able to THINK about it. Far more important to stop there and reward him, than to go on pushing him through. Sometimes taking a step backwards is actually taking a huge step forwards.
Of course one must be skilled in knowing how to READ horses to be able to determine whether he is thinking or not, left brain vs right brain. (You can study about this at www.Parelli.com ) Because if you quit while the horse is still right brain you will only have made matters worse. This is why most people say: "You can never let the horse win" without understanding, that horses are not arguing against people for winning, they are just plain scared and as long as they are scared they cannot think, and as long as they cannot think, they cannot learn anything. Therefore it is more important to get the horse calm and thinking and then quit rewarding that state of mind, whether he crossed the object or not, than to go on pushing him through while he is still scattered. Now do you see how it is not about the creek!
The next weekend we went back and it took less than half of the time for Steal to think his way through and he actually OFFERED to cross the creek.
(I can't really blame him. The creek doesn't look like something I would want to step in either.)
Love is... sharing a carrot with a friend.

The Trail Less Travelled

2008-05-29T10:48:00.001-07:00

This video was made by "savvygirl19"

Good news, bad news.

2008-05-22T20:39:00.001-07:00

Travieso is home! He was away at the trainer for what seemed like forever. He raced and won! It's really all the same. I'm happy he is back in one piece. And he looks amazing!

Only right after Travieso's race a filly named "Eight Bells" ran her last race at the Kentucky derby. She came in second, not far behind "Big Brown" and a few strides after passing the finish line collapsed with two broken front ankles. A condylar fracture on the left front broke through the skin. Eight Bells was euthanized immediately.

Why, why, why do we keep letting people torture these beautiful animals at their young age, when their bones aren't nearly developed enough to endure such stress they are forced to undergo. Racing horses is NOT a sport! It is an inhumane act of animal cruelty for the benefit of crude, selfish people and their millions of dollars invested in betting.
In the "New York Times" Mr. Jones, the trainer of Eight Bells quoted: "These things are our family" (Things!?? Does he call his children things too?)

From the New York Times by William C. Rhoden: "Why do we refuse to put the brutal game of racing in the realm of mistreatment of animals? At what point do we at least race the question about the efficacy of thousand pound horses racing at full throttle on spindly legs?
Horsemen like to talk about their thoroughbreds and how they were born to run and live to run. The reality is that they are made to run, forced to run for profits they never see. Thoroughbred racing is a brutal sport. Why do we keep giving it a pass?"

I don't have much to add to that, except, that these ongoing tragedies at the race tracks don't seem to face some people. Most who like the racing are more interested in the money and fame, than what's good for the horse. To them horses are but object, that get hurt sometimes. It's as simple as that. No remorse. And it's because of those kind of people, that the so called "sport" continues to put the horses lives at risk. And it's because of that, that Travieso is not staying home for long. Soon he is to go back to the trainer and race again. :(
In memory of Eight Bells.

Body language

2008-05-13T23:32:00.000-07:00

PHASE ONE PHASE TWO PHASE THREE PHASE THREE AND A HALF

2008-05-13T22:59:00.000-07:00

One lazy weekend...

2008-04-29T19:40:00.000-07:00

Madeira, the queen on her throne. It's taken me awhile to get her to stop and stand on the tire, like Steal. She would rather just sort of walk over it quickly and be done with the madness. I mean what's the point anyway? From her point of view??? Well, let me tell you, the point came to her in a form of a carrot. And a good point it was! From her point of view.

Madeira synchronizing with Virpi and Steal.

After some horseplay in the arena we decided to let Steal and Madeira visit the pasture, which they have not been in for at least a year. We thought that they would exercise themselves to great extends running around all happily with their old buddies at least for an hour. All we would have to do is stand around and watch.
(Humf! Huff!...rolling of the eyes ...%$#^*%*^&...) They ran exactly fife strides and stopped to eat!
Steal with a mouthful of alfalfa?? NOT ALLOWED!!!
At least Tuff was useful and helped us pick up the "toys" from the arena. Tuff boy

Bath time

2008-04-15T21:50:00.000-07:00

Finally last weekend the weather was warm enough so we jumped on the opportunity to bathe the horses. Kim has been the first on the list of horses to bathe since December. I started with her on Friday with help from Stefan, a ranch volunteer. Kim enjoyed every moment of scrubbing. She has been so itchy, that she has scratched herself to blood on several parts of her bony body. I don't know why we never thought of it before... but scrubbing her through to the skin surfaced tiny little white particles, which looked like dry skin. Soon her entire body was covered with this white stuff that didn't come off. I had NEVER seen lice before so I had to call Raul to come and heck whether this could be it. Raul said that it indeed was lice eggs. Then he parted the hair just enough to see the lice on her skin. Not lying Kim had more lice on her body than hair. No wonder she has been so permanently dehydrated. I cannot even begin to describe how disgusted I felt. They say that humans can not catch horse lice, but I was itching all over from the mere thought. We bathe her with a microbial shampoo on Friday and afterwards I sprayed her with anti-fungal spray since she does have fungal problems also. On Saturday we bathe her again, with lice shampoo this time and sprayed her afterwards with a heavy fly-tick-lice repellent, that we got from "Feed n' Fuel" for her that morning. On Sunday I groomed her with a metal curry and she stood there untied with a lip quivering, so totally loving me scratching her. I believe we killed most of the lice, but this certainly isn't the end of it. Her face and ears were the difficult part. The lice were stuck all over the inside of her ears. Virpi dampened a towel with the lice spray and rubbed the insides of her ears as much as she could without hurting her.Needless to say, That Steal and Madeira got a nice bath too. Luckily they didn't have any lice. Afterall Kim has lived right next door to Madeira for the past few months.Check out Steal shaking. His ears are bend.Madeira sparkling after her bath.

Rodeo

2008-04-12T17:00:00.000-07:00

Couple weeks ago We went to see the Grand National Rodeo at Cow Palace. Ronda and her friends competed in the color guard representing the San Francisco horseman's association, and they took home the blue ribbon. Here are a few exciting photos.
The next day at the ranch we practiced some of our own rodeo tricks.
And the baby gave us a private bronc show.
Virpi and Steal played with the ball.
Kim took a walk on her own. Her ribs and hip bones are SLOWLY disappearing.The baby is so attached to Kim that where ever Kim is grazing, that is where baby hangs out.Can't see, but I sense you.Summer sneaked into Faith's stall and pretended to be a private horse. Notice the open latch on the stall door. She knows how to go in and out as she pleases. Some horses in the act of begging.So angelic...Madeira was teaching me how to roll...And then we just hung out.
I love my horse.

2008-04-01T09:26:00.000-07:00

The three musketeers. We finally saddled up to go on a trail ride. Just a short one. It's funny how the world wheels around. I used to think that people who hardly ever rode their horses were so weird and not doing the right thing for their horse. And now I've become one of those people. I wonder if those people I saw not riding understood the importance of groundwork and the undemanding time spent with a horse??? I may have judged the book by it's cover. However, I am having a blast playing with Madeira on the ground, and better yet, she is having a blast too. The other day she got really "wild" and what looked like completely right brain behaviour, but she was so in sync with me it was unbelievably incredible! Several of the ranch hands came over to the fence to watch and were totally amazed at what we were doing. (And a little jealous I might add.) Paris Wallace, our professional ranch photographer happen to be around too and took all these awesome photos of us.

I send Madeira out on a circle and she ran around wild until I disengaged her and she cantered over halting exactly on front of me and as I signaled her she reared. (The guys think, that the strange orange stick has magical powers.)

Then I asked her to "heal" like one would ask a dog, and she walked when I walked, trotted when I trotted, cantered when I cantered, stopped when I stopped and backed up when I did. We also moved sideways in harmony, towards me and away. And imagine, all this stuff is quite easy for us these days. Yep! We had a fun play day.

Then on Sunday I went back to Moss beach Ranch to watch some friends of mine competing in a small show. Here are some photos of Penny on Prince, Ronda on Iris and Gloria on Iris.

King of the wheel!

2008-03-24T14:29:00.000-07:00

Steal climbed up all the way on the big tractor wheel last weekend. He felt like a much bigger horse.
And of course there was a treat involved. Since his laminitis treats for Steal have been in a very short supply, so these days he will do just about anything to get one.
Climbing up on a tire certainly was no trick at all.
Madeira kept sneaking over to flirt with Jake who was in the arena.
They used to stay in the pasture together.

On Saturday morning Virpi and I visited a fiend of ours, Joanna who bought one of my favourite horses ever, Joe. Joe now lives at Moss Beach Ranch. Look familiar? Yes, that's where my beloved Cody used to live.
The place is so beautiful and awesome, and Joe looked so happy and comfortable. It was great to visit and see him enjoying his new home.

2008-03-16T21:44:00.000-07:00

Baby Turned one year old on the 15Th of March. She has really matured nicely. Her and I went for a special walk, just the two of us that day, and spent a lot of time hanging out. We have been doing lots of preparation for trimming lately, since the last trimming time with Samuel didn't work out as smoothly as I had hoped. But last weekend I actually trimmed her a little myself and she stood still tied into a post as if she'd done it for years, and let me rasp her little hooves.
Then our trimmer came on Tuesday and I had him trim baby. He was really very impressed with her manners, she was a perfect little girl, and I was so proud of her.
It's really amazing to work with horses. You can perform all sorts of "magic" with just one ingredient: trust.

Momma Came to hang around with some of her pasture buddies, Summer Jupiter and Snowflake. They wanted their share of the goodies. We have a ton of oranges from a Friends of ours tree and the horses all LOVE them.

Especially Kim, who can smell them miles away. She enjoys her days feeling better by the day, and she gets so excited to come out for little walks and to graze whenever she hears us coming.

She really is looking much better already, but it is her attitude that has totally flipped around. She is full of life and taking everything out of it.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MADEIRA!

2008-02-23T11:21:00.000-08:00

Madeira turned 11 years old yesterday.
We had some friends come over to celebrate her birthday with us. She enjoyed her bran cupcakes with the elaborate toppings, and of course we shared some of the toppings with other horses around.

Later after the horses were all "tucked in" we moved the celebration into Raul's house. Isn't it amazing!? Raul and Madeira share a birthday!
We had a delicious dinner and some more cupcakes, with real frosting.
Happy birthday Raul and Madeira!

Kim update

2008-02-18T15:19:00.000-08:00

Couple weeks ago on a cold, rainy Saturday I found and other skinny, old horse shivering on front of the stalls, trying to keep from the the wind and rain, that was beating down his back. He looked as if he had given up hope for eating and did not follow the other line horses to the pasture at feeding time. I didn't recognize him at all, but turned out he was Powder, another old friend of mine, a horse I had used for wrangling a long time ago.
He too was painfully thin. His ribs, spine and hip bones clearly visible from under almost unnaturally long winter coat.
There were no more empty stalls available, so from the ranch manager's suggestion Kim got a roommate for just one night. Kim was skeptical at first, but they had known each other for years and soon figured out, that they both were in the "same boat." Horses are kind of "love the one you are with" type of animals anyway, and by the morning when the guys separated them upon finding another stall for Powder, the two were calling for each other.

I wanted to say THANK YOU to some very kind hearted friends of ours, who gave us a donation for Kim. We are overwhelmed by you kindness and generosity.
Kim thanks you most of all. Although still painfully thin, she has become alive again. She got her hooves trimmed and medicated, we filled her stall with shavings and bought lots of extra food, which we are feeding to Kim, and now also Powder. We are looking into some eye medicine for Kim, her eyes are running badly. But she whinnies out loud when she hears us coming and can't wait for her special treatment. We take her out of the stall to eat some fresh grass and groom her, and she follows our voices even without a lead rope. We did also buy medicated shampoo, but it has not been warm enough for bathing her yet. She is still a very sorry sight, but she is soo happy now, and that is what matters. This is how we want her to live the rest of her days... Happy!
So thank you! we really don't know how to thank you enough.

Thank You!!!!

Kim

2008-01-22T20:12:00.000-08:00

The stall between madeira and Faith has been empty since momma pony moved out into the pasture and although I know Madeira enjoyed bossing momma around it has been serenely quiet between the two cranky mares.
A couple of weeks ago, right after the big storm Raul found Kim shivering in the pasture, struggling to find food.
Kim is an older mare, nearing thirty, if not over. A few years back she went completely blind and was retired from the rent string after having worked as a trail horse for more than 15 years. Her best friend Nevada, an older gelding became her eyes and her protection. She never left his side, until a couple of years ago when Nevada was sold and taken away.
The day Raul found her stumbling about she moved into the stall next door to madeira.
Raul had called to tell me about her, but still the sight that awaited me in that stall was deeply saddening.
I remembered her as a beautiful proud looking appaloosa. About 14 years ago she was one of Virpi's and my favorite horses to ride, sweet and willing with a good amount of energy and gentle spirit.

Now when I looked into the stall the only thing I recognized was the heart shaped brand on her left shoulder. She stood there literally skin and bones. Her white, filmy, blind eyes had sunken in their sockets. Her hoofs had not been touched for years. From the grooves in them I could tell that they had overgrown countless times and the excess had at times broken off itself. Her entire body was covered with a concoction of mud and manure caked stiffly into her coat.
I cannot describe how awful I felt seeing her that way. And I couldn't understand why a horse had to be reduced to this before anyone did anything. Her retirement had merely ment to be forgotten into the pasture. It was hard to believe she was the same horse, that had carried us all those years ago.

Raul had already started her on a special diet, and I decided to add a weekly bran mash to it. It was the least I could do. Her Thirty year old teeth weren't in shape to eat rough forages anymore. The only part of the alfalfa she seemed to be eating was the sweet, rich, leafy ends. The rest lay stomped on the floor as good as bedding. That is why she had been starving in the pasture. Out there the "good stuff" was eaten by the strong members of the herd before the weaker ones ever got near it. What was left over for the lower ranking herd members was the roughage, which Kim had not been able to eat.
Tess and I tried grooming her, but the rain rot was so bad, that every stroke of brush peeled off more hair, than dirt leaving ugly bold spots along her back. Joe (Jake's owner) was kind enough to lend us a blanket that fit perfectly on Kim.
It has been about three weeks and now Kim comes to find us immediately when she hears our voices. She seems cozy and warm in her blanket, in a stall where no other horse can push her off her food, and she is incredibly thankful of the extra treats and attention she is getting. Even madeira and Faith, who both greatly protested against sharing their food and affection with this other mare in the middle, have given up. I don't know if they realized, that she can't see or if they just couldn't figure out why this odd horse was not reacting to their pinned ears and bared teeth. Yesterday when Virpi was feeding her bran and scratching her neck, she seemed utterly content. She kept sighing as if not believing her luck and at the same time trying to figure out why all of a sudden she was getting this special treatment. But she has decided to enjoy every bit of it and we are determined to make the rest of her days the happiest she has ever known.

This is Virpi riding Kim in the summer of 1993. If you look closely, you can see the heart brand on her left shoulder.

Stormy day

2008-01-06T09:43:00.000-08:00

Happy new year! Virpi and I sang our way to 2008. Private garage karaoke party and some good old Finnish tunes.
I had some time off between Christmas and new years day. Had time to read a novel (I usually only read educational books,) which my best friend Kirsi sends me from Finland every Christmas. She is making sure that I won't forget my Finnish.
I went ice skating with uncle Jarmo and his girlfriend Nina at the Winter lodge. and then, Chris and I spent some quality time in a movie theater. We saw "the water horse" and "PS. I love you." Loved them both. This is 3rd Ave. San Mateo on Friday the 4Th.
Storms have raged through the bay area for the last couple of days now, leaving behind fallen trees and power lines, floods and mudslides, traffic trouble, and thousands of homes without electricity.
We sat in the stalls with our horses through the worst part of the storm on Saturday. I just love, love, love the rain and the earth needs it so badly here. But all that drumming, thunder and lightning was freaking out the horses.
The poor baby ran around her paddock wide eyed trying to huddle close with Samuel's baby in the next stall through a panel the wind had ribbed apart. They only calmed down when I came in to sit with them. Baby is so attached to me now, that she thought, as long as I was with her everything would be fine. When the thunder finally faded and I tried to leave she got anxious and bit me on the arm. poor thing. Most horses were in their stalls, but some stood out in the paddocks afraid to go in from all the drumming on the tin roof. Austin, an older heavy breed gelding just a stall away from the babies stood outside his back turned towards the rain and he was calm as a rock. As i looked at him I got a mental message that he was keeping an eye on the babies. He said he couldn't leave them out there alone, he had to be there to assure them that everything would be OK. I told him that the babies were all right and that he should go in before he would catch a cold (the poor guy is suffering from tumors too,) and amazingly he just walked right in as if I had taken a burden off his shoulders.
The pasture flooded badly and the ranch horses stood in the muddy pools with their backs against the rain, the ocean stirring wildly behind them. Some playfully fought for the few spots of higher ground.
the rain never stopped. But for a few minutes here and there it calmed down from a furious drumming enforced with the wind to a regular moderate rain fall. And that's when we took the opportunity to let madeira and steal out to walk around for just a few quick minutes.

The last weekend of 2007

2007-12-30T20:19:00.000-08:00

Travieso feeling good, stretching his legs a bit, loving life. One could never tell that just a few months ago he came so close to death. His scar is merely a cosmetic imperfection on his neck. Now barely visible under his coat.
He is a marvelous horse.

Madeira cuddling with Travieso. That only happens at certain time of the "month." Poor Travieso is all confused??? He cannot figure out why sometimes she is so loving and other times she kicks at him with flattened ears.
It's a female thing. He will get it in a few years.

Travieso was very interested in the baby though. He came galloping over when I brought the little one out.

And then, of course Madeira came slowly and calculatively, and chased him away from HER charge. She has adopted the role of a foster mother.

A good roll in the slobby mud does a body good!
Always remember to roll on both sides!

Look at my beautiful lady. She looks like she was molded out of clay.

A very relaxed and content Madeira with her little "mini-me" shadowing behind her.

Steal back to work. What a tough life. He is not lame anymore, but still weaning off the medication, on a special diet and now all he needs is a bit more exercise.

Steal's front hooves. If you look closely you can see the horizontal groove almost exactly in the middle of his hooves. From the coronet to the groove is the growth of his new hoof. Note the dramatic change in the degree of the hoof angle. This is the product of barefootedness and Good trimming after being in badly shod shoes, that stretched out his toes for so long. Laminitis is not caused by bad shoeing, but it definitely aids the illness. If the toes are too long and stretched out there will be separations of the lamina from the hoof wall. Then all you need is some endotoxins in the blood stream and BOOM... worst case scenario.

Baby was shy to come close when I was ON Madeira.

But she is a big girl now and it was time she came along on a "big horse" walk out on the trail.

Madeira was such a good helper.

There was so much to see on the trail.

Baby enjoyed it very much. She felt like an important big horse.

And of course we had a little snack on the way. Madeira really changes color in the winter, and it's not just the darker winter coat, she becomes a greyish mud brown.

Visiting Cruiser and Fire on the way back.

Raul cozying up the stall for my mud pony.
Now all I have to do is brush the dried up mud cakes off my lady's beautiful fur.

Momma bobbed her head into Madeira's stall to say Hi. She is happy in the pasture, made a lots of friends and ranks quite high in the herd.
But she comes to hang out and say hello to us and her baby all the time.

The dusk at the ranch is my favourite time. When all is quiet, most everyone else has gone home. The horses are peacefully munching their evening hay, birds asleep on the branches, and I just stand there lulled by the relaxing sound of the ocean in the background, taking in the last of the sun.

Check out the bottle of wine we had at aunt Kaija's holiday dinner. (I just had to take a picture of it.) It's "Madeira." So sweet, rich and red, almost liquor like strong. Madeira.

2007-12-11T08:48:00.000-08:00

Wonderful couple of weeks have gone by. I missed a weekend at the ranch while I was visiting my favorite family in Bonsall, close to San Diego, for a long weekend. And if you would never believe that I could have fun without my horses, well, I had a fantastic time! I had a special spa treatment. We had coffee at the famous Hotel Del Coronado. We went to the beach, had Hot chocolate at the Pannikin (my favourite.) I got to watch Daniel at the art of fencing. And Just hang out with my favourite people in the world; Heather Daniel and Isabelle. Certainly I missed Madeira, but she is always in good hands when I'm away.

Well Back at the ranch this past weekend Madeira and Steal got their hooves trimmed, and Little Candy too received a special, complimentary trim from our trimmer.
Her hooves were curving up badly and I had been asking for the ranch shoer to trim her for the last two months, in vain.
Afterwards we all went for a walk, Candy in tow.

Virpi rode Steal on the way out just a little. He is doing well and can be ridden slow at walk for short distances now.

Beverly came along with Cruiser. His main agenda was to get as much of green grass on the way as possible.

On the back gate we met Irene walking Jet.

And White Chocolate and Fire came to greet us over the pasture fence.

Afterwards we all hung out in the arena, including Baby.
Baby is such a big "horse" now. She wants to be part of the herd so badly, and she is so curious about the other horses. We can't of course leave them in without supervision, although baby is very respectful of her elders, and moves out of their way quicker than they can think. But as long as the humans are in charge, the horses won't have to challenge each other.

I did let Baby say Hi to Madeira. Madeira is so gentle and loving.

Steal in the other hand was jealous when his human was playing with the little rascal.

But the baby can Fly!
It's as is she's got wings...

Baby had to leave the arena before Tuff came in though.

But we let then socialize over the fence.

Steal the trooper.

2007-11-19T21:57:00.000-08:00

Another great weekend passed by so too fast. I snapped this cute photo of Steal an Madeira on our walk Sunday, when we didn't make it all the way to the creek as we usually do, because I had decided to walk Steal without the Caballo boots and he was a bit ouchy. So we ended up taking a brake early and I took off his muzzle so he could take a few bites of grass. He lives for those moments now, that he isn't allowed to eat much extra outside of his regular daily feed, which remains 100% grass mix with no alfalfa.
So Steal has gotten his walk routine down so well that he actually needs no one to hold his "hand" to get himself to the creek for a bite of grass. (I would say that the point to point game has worked.) No barn sours allowed. He walks enthusiastically all the way to the creek and waits till Madeira and I arrive, to take off his muzzle. We are of course right behind him, but Madeira is a slow walker. In order to keep up with Steal she would have to trot lightly, but since her newfound confidence and trust in me, she puts absolutely no energy or effort into trotting after Steal.

Group of riders passing us on the trail.

Unlike Travieso, who trusted me to crawl into his stall and sit with him while he layed down after just a couple of weeks from his arrival, Madeira used to never feel comfortable to lay down to even roll when people were around. Getting close enough to snap a photo of her rolling was a difficult task. You had to be fast and have a great zoom. However for a few years now she has liked rolling on the beach while I hold the leadrope, and slowly she has started to roll in the arena with me standing close to her.

She is an extraordinary horse. She is totally hyper sensitive about everything (which I have successfully developed into a great lightness) and her innately right brain horsenality is extra flighty. But now, here she is completely comfortably laying down after a roll while I go and sit with her. It is a great compliment for me to have her trust me this much, knowing that not just anyone could have accomplished this with her type of horse.

I want to greatly stress the point that I did not make, or even ask her to lay down. (I don't have that savvy yet.) I simply allowed her to roll because she felt like it and as she layed down I calmly walked up to her, gave her a treat and sat down stroking her gently. I also did nothing to hold her down, but allowed her to get up immediately when she wanted to. And after the treats from my pocket were gone, she did. One day she will lay down from a request, and it will be completely from her own will without loosing any dignity. Until then, we savvy up!

I hopped on her afterwards for a bit. One of Madeira's favourite thing is to herd the other horses around, and she will readily do it with me, which is great, because that way I can exercise two horses at once. Here we are moving Travieso.

And afterwards they kiss.

I had to get on Travieso too. He is much more comfortable to sit on than Madeira.

Baby is still coughing badly, and looking more lethargic than last week. All that desensitising last weekend payed off, and I was able to easily take her temperature which was 101.0

A little on the high side I thought, but I was assured by the Ranch manager that it was OK for a foal.

Raul told me when I called on Monday, that the baby is now receiving antibiotics. So hopefully she will soon be OK.

Momma was ridden last weekend for an hour and did great.

Momma returns to pasture

2007-11-12T21:15:00.000-08:00

On Sunday it was time for momma to return to the herd life in the pasture. It rained all day on Saturday and the pasture was an ugly muddy mess, but momma walked out there with a calm confidence, as if she had never been gone.
The other horses remembered her immediately and came to greet her with curiosity. She moved some of them away and some of them moved her. She seemed to be well in balance with the herd.

Feather surrendered his pile of alfalfa for momma without a discussion, and later she challenged Thelma for a spot on the feeder. Thelma didn't mind. She is too big to fit under the shelter anyway.

She is such a beautiful pony and so smart. She will do well where ever she is. But it was great having her right next door to Madeira for just a couple of weeks. Madeira tried her hardest to boss the pony around, but the pony pinned her ears back at Madeira and stood her ground saying: "Is that all you got miss thoroughqueen!" Miss Queenie was a big bluff anyway. She whinnied longingly after as I walked momma out to the pasture.

Poor baby has had a bad cough and her nose is running with yellow stuff. People say that it's just allergies, but I'm very worried, that she has gotten a cold. Her resistance would be low because of all the stress of separating from momma so suddenly.

I will be calling the ranch every day this week to ask how she is doing and hope, that they will call the vet out if she worsens.

Separation anxiety

2007-11-06T06:45:00.000-08:00

Madeira saying goodbye to Sunrise. Yes, I know, we will all miss him like crazy. It's just not going to be the same without the old guy.

So on Sunday Sunrise moved to live closer to the city where Joe can go and see him every day, instead of just once a week down here in Half Moon Bay. Joe e-mailed last night that Sunrise was settling down finally after the initial shock. He will quickly make new buddies there, I'm sure, but hey, don't forget about us!

The trailer was an easy gig, until the doors closed. That's when the poor guy got really worried.

Well perhaps we will trailer Steal and Madeira to visit at Mar Vista sometime. We will go for a stroll on the beach. But for now, Joe, lay off the liberty stuff out in the open, Sunrise will trot right back to Sea Horse.

Sunrise isn't the only one having separation anxiety. Baby and momma were separated a week ago. For a few weeks I had been turning them out separately.

The first day I turned momma out first leaving baby in the stall, and waited until they both had calmed down, before turning baby out with momma. I took exactly 57 minutes.

The next day I did the same, only it took them just 10 minutes to calm down. The next weekend I did the same thing and they were both calm immediately. I left momma out for an hour anyway, and then brought baby in and put momma back in the stall. That stirred up emotions again. It was harder for baby to be out in the arena by herself, than in the comfort of her stall. But as long as I stayed with her she was fine, and momma was calm. From then on I turned them out in separate arenas without a worry, they knew they would see each other back in the stall again.

Finally last Sunday I left momma into the round Corral at the end of the day with her food and her water bucket. They would be just a few feet away and still see each other. I felt really bad. I felt like a horrible tyrant. Momma looked at me with those soft large eyes underneath her bushy forelock asking why she couldn't go to her baby. We humans are incredibly cruel. But momma settled down to eat her dinner after calling each other a little while. So I left feeling better. Although I still didn't think it was the right thing to do.

The next day I learned, that momma had been moved to live next to Madeira at the other end of the stalls. They wouldn't be able to see each other any more. I made Raul swear and promise to me that he would turn them both out every day that week, threatening that the mom's milk was going to back up and she would get terribly ill if she had to stand in the stall all week until I got there on Friday, and so he did.

Momma and baby were so happy to see me this weekend. I have become their favorite and trusted human. Momma gets to hang out with Madeira, Steal and us, and Madeira even tosses her empty food bowl under the fence to momma after she is done eating, and momma licks it clean. Baby had complete trust in me when I walked her over the bridge on Friday, and to the front to get her first little hoof trim (which was way over due) on Sunday. Just a few quick strokes with a rasp and we ended up on a good note. What a good little girl.

Samuel brought a new thoroughbred filly to live next door to the baby and they buddied up immediately. So we turned them out together on Saturday. Look at them go. Happy babies.

Well. this was my view on Sunday afternoon. Madeira and I just mosied around in the arena. She was so relaxed under me, that I could just feel impulsion building. She is not scared or reluctant to carry me anymore. She really doesn't mind. And she is trying so hard to do everything I ask of her. We have turned yet another page in our relationship, and this is a good one. She is my partner, my girlfriend. There is nothing better than that.

The fog swallowed Half Moon Bay at the end of the day on Sunday and it has been gray ever since. Armando & co. took Travieso and Faith out on a long trail ride. And he is not taking it easy anymore. Travieso's wound is closed and forgotten, and it is back to being a normal horse now. Too much so, what is called normal around here.

I keep telling the horses to pray the spirits to line up my lottery numbers so that I can buy my own ranch and take them all with me.

Travieso update

2007-10-16T10:11:00.000-07:00

Travieso is really doing well. Although it is hard to get a good body picture of him, because he is always sniffing the camera. Curiosity though is one of the most desirable qualities of a horse, so I'm not about to nock it out of him. He is an interesting combination of sweetness and macho at the same time. I really love him, which is bad, because I really can't keep "stealing" all of Raul's horses.
The other day some customer walked by the arena when Travieso was out and with a horrified look on her face she asked if a vet had been called to see this horse with the HUGE cut on his neck.
I couldn't but laugh, and she nearly got mad at me before I could explain her the details about his huge cut. It is TINY now, and closing fast. What remains
is a faint wrinkly line running up his chest, where the scar is covered by new winter hair. And the skin around the small open wound on the neck is a bit tightened as if someone made a mistake sowing. I'm sure it will always stay that way to some extent, to remind us... But he is looking great and totally enjoying his second chance in life.
Armando has taken him out for short, light rides on the trail a few times now and he seems to enjoy seeing the bigger world again.

Playing ball!

2007-10-12T19:46:00.000-07:00

Madeira has been hanging out with Tuff a lot lately. They are being turned out together and having a blast. Madeira is mainly pushing Tuff around and he is loving it.

Well last weekend we filmed parts of my level two test and as I was watching it at home I decided that it wasn't exactly what I wanted my level two to look like. So I will have to do it over. Madeira has gotten so calm now, that she actually looked a bit dull. She doesn't FEEL dull for me when I'm playing with her. I rather like her newfound calmness, since I'm so used to seeing her flying around the arena totally right brain. (which means that she is not thinking, just reacting.) Right brain extrovert is her innate horsenality and she still exhibits that behavior quite often. So when she goes into that calm left brain, thinking state of mind, looking dull or not, I cherish every moment of it. However I don't think it will pass my level two, so I will have to find a middle ground between dull and right brain. How to keep her energy up while keeping her left brain. we will work on that.

In a mean time everyone was playing with the big green ball Dan was kind enough to lend us to use. It was a hit! Tuff absolutely LOVES that ball and the plain sight of it gets him excited. We had hard time keeping him from popping it as he wants to pick it up with his teeth, lay down on it and kick it all at the same time. It's the most hilarious sight.

Steal and Madeira decided that they could really do without the ball.

Momma was very curious as was baby, who ran after it without ever questioning the fact. The ball is nearly as big as her.

However the very same ball looked a lot tinier next to Travieso.

Travieso is doing fantastic. I have been playing with him a little bit lately in the big arena and he is proving out to be quite a challenge. I'm guessing that he was gelded very late, because he is showing some very studly behavior. He

is also much like Cruiser, (a left brain introvert) and not to my surprise, I realised while playing with him, that I have absolutely NO experience with left brain horses, especially introverts. I guess I have always been more attracted to the Right brain types, the jumpy, fast, spooky, well, overall "crazy" horses that seemed to provide more challenge. And now they are no challenge for me anymore, only a fascinating project. I have noticed lately as I've played with some other RB horses that I have become very comfortable and very experienced with them, having always picked that types of horses. I have NEVER before picked a left brain horse. They seem slow and dull and boring, something good for beginners. I thought my time would be wasted with one of those. Well, Now I am challenged with a rather confident, manipulative thinker, who is DESIGNED by nature to outsmart me. I'm again loving the challenge, but I may have to resort to Beverly for help. After all she does have two EXTREME (to say the least) left brain cases. One introvert, Cruiser, and one extrovert, Tuff.

2007-09-30T20:33:00.000-07:00

Last Sunday was the first day of autumn. The mornings are now dark and cold when I leave for work. The leaves are falling and turning the ground into all shades of brown. Bright orange pumpkin patches have appeared on the empty lots in every little town. Dayssi, India and I visited one last week, and both the girls got to choose a pumpkin to take home.
We had our first rain last weekend too. It was welcomed with open arms to tie down the dust at the ranch for at least a day.
These two photos were taken a few weeks ago with me still in a skirt, feels like it's been forever since summer. Madeira and I have been doing some relaxing walks and rides on the trail and she is really doing well. It's been good to be back home for the last couple of weeks, all enthusiastic and inspired by the savvy conference. We have since been working on our Parelli level two riding tasks too (our on -line and liberty part have been ready for quite a while) and are about ready to take our test. Hoping the weather would still hold for next weekend and I could find someone to film it, to be send to the Parelli headquarters for an evaluation. I'm rather confident, that Madeira and I are there.
I have done some extra babysitting at nights and weekends and saved up enough to finally order my third level pack. I can't wait to start studying it. there is so much knowledge I just can't wait to pack my head with.

Beverly has offered Virpi to do her first level with Cruiser, since Steal is quite out of order. So She and Cruiser are playing now every weekend. Cruiser is a bit of a challenge. He is a very left brain introverted horse. But it seems like the two of them are getting along quite well.
Cruiser really didn't see the point to get up on the tire before he saw the carrot. Hmmm... how interesting.

Baby wanted on the tire too after seeing the big horses do it. I actually never asked her to get on. She totally offered it, and I took it. She is quite a devious little diva. I wish her and momma would get out more often, or could live in a bigger area. Seems, that now I'm the only one taking them out, and I only get there on the weekends. They should be weaned soon. Baby is now six and a half months, and she is totally running the "house hold." momma has practically lost the leadership in the stall while baby is pushing her around, and baby really hates it when I make her yield to pressure. She is innately a right brain extrovert and oh boy do I have experience with those sorts of horses. So she is quite fun for me, not even a little bit challenging, she is exactly like little Madeira, the way madeira used to be, only tiny, and I know all her tricks.

I put Travieso into the large arena today and he had fun running around silly and whinnying.

The vet came last weekend (in the rain) for our regular vaccinations and a check up. Both Madeira and Travieso were very brave and well behaved. I'm so proud of them. Yesterday I dewormed both, and they were so good at letting me squirt that icky stuff into their mouths, that I felt horribly bad after and just spoiled them with goodies.

Travieso's enormous boo-boo is nearly a memory now. There will most likely always be a scar to remind us of the scare, but he is happy and healthy and ready to rock.

Savvy Savvy!

2007-09-16T08:11:00.000-07:00

Last week Virpi and I flew to the Parelli Natural Horsemanship center in Pagosa Springs, Colorado for the annual Savvy conference. Pagosa Springs (elevation 7079) is a small town (population 1607) known of it's natural mineral hot springs. It is a spiritual place with a rich history beginning with the Anasazi Indians and later the Utes, Navajos and Apaches. It was believed that the hot springs had curative powers. The native Americans called it Pagosah, "Healing Waters," (from an Ute word meaning healing) and the great Spring became a sacred place of peace and healing.

If you'd like to read more about it go to http://www.pagosahotsprings.com/

I called the Parelli headquarters for a permission to post photos.

The Parelli ranch is one of the most beautiful and peaceful places I have ever been to. You can feel the spirit of God and mother nature all around you as you walk up to the "big top," covered arena overlooking the sloping green pastures, the most beautiful view framed by the often snow caped Rocky mountains. It's fantastic to meet and talk to people that are on the same page with you as far as horsemanship. You see happy faces everywhere, all pulled together by the same invisible strings, the love for our horses, that was so strong it humbled us down to understand, that it was our selfish human point of views, that needed to chance, not the horse. You could not detect any frustration on the faces of the savvy team playing with their horses, even when things didn't go quite as planned. only the knowing smile of understanding, that things in life hardly ever go exactly as planned, and the knowledge of how to re-adjust and fix the situation.

It was a pleasure to watch and learn from all the people there. they have so much savvy and all of their horses seem so happy and peaceful.

(above)"Zeus" Pat's new friesian.

(Left)Carol Coppinger (5 star instructor)and her horse Ranger in Spanish walk

"Allure" Linda's beautiful left brain extrovert in action (right)

Linda Parelli in harmony with "Remmer"

Walter Zettl, one of the most accomplished masters of classical dressage, whom Linda takes dressage lessons from Says: “My first impression upon arriving at the Parelli ranch was the deep love, understanding and respect Pat and Linda have for their horses." (click the link to read more about Walter.)

"I smell gold" Says Pat when Lauren rides transitions from extended to collected trot. Lauren and River are heading for the 2008 paralympics in China. She rides so beautifully, that one could never tell she is paralysed from the waist down.

Soon to be famous Katie Drake entertained us on the breaks. Loved her songs so much I bought the CD and got it autographed by Katie.

Virpi and I with Pat Parelli

Virpi and I with Linda Parelli.

Pat cutting with Magic.

Well, we had amazing time and learned so much more, as always with the Parellis. Pat and Linda are the most wonderful people I have ever met, and they are spreading their spirit around the world.

The clouds from above.

Travieso's story

2007-09-02T08:53:00.000-07:00

So many people have been asking about Travieso, my best friend Raul's horse, he bough in January of 2007. Well, here it is, his story finally.
For those of you that don't know, "Get it Rollin'" (which turned out to be a catchy name for my blog) is the registered name of Travieso. Nayeli nick-named him in the car on the way back from Fresno, Ca. as we were towing him home to Half Moon Bay, and he proved to be true to his new nick name "Travieso'" which is a Spanish word for mischievous.
"Get it Rollin'" is a son of the great "Chick's Beduino" one of the leading studs for racing quarter horses, who is no longer living, but whose frozen semen is still sold today for TEN THOUSAND dollars.
Travieso turned 4 years last February and already has a successful racing career behind him.
He is not only big and beautiful, but he is one of the sweetest and smartest horses we have known.

Armando used to mainly ride and exercise him.

But he is quite a lovely ride so sometimes I got on him too.

He would often lay down in his paddock and let me sit with him.

On June 11Th Travieso was showing signs of colic for which he received an injection of Banamine into the neck muscle by a ranch personnel. Banamine (flunixin meglumine)comes in an injectable form for intravenous or intramuscular use. However, as we learned from our vet later, It should only be given intramuscularly in a very extreme cases. It can also be given orally in the paste or granule forms. Banamine is in the same category of drugs as aspirin and phenylbutazone (bute). They are all nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs. Banamine is a prescription drug. Many horse owners keep it on hand because it is an effective medication for colic. It relieves pain, and in some of the more serious cases of colic, fights some of the dangerous toxins that may be released from the intestinal system into the bloodstream. No one knows why Banamine has this anti-endotoxic effect.
The day after his banamine shot, Travieso's neck started to swell. Raul, advised by the ranch manager, hosed it with cold water and gave him bute.
The next day the swelling was worse, reaching to his chest. Raul repeated the care from the day before. Yet the day after the swelling had reached his front legs. They were like nothing short from elephant legs and he could not move more than a half an inch at a time dragging his front legs. Now he looked like one of those stuffed horses with a HUGE head and a tiny hind end. I had NEVER seen anything like that. (I don't know why, and totally regret, that we don't have any photos of this stage.) Raul called the vet. Travieso was having the worst kind of reaction to the Banamine injection. The vet pumped him full of DMSO. And for a few days he stunk so badly, I could not bare to be near him. Thank God for Raul and his ability to deal with the most horrific things. He applied a warm compress twice daily.
Slowly the swelling started to subside oozing through his skin. If you pressed on the swelled up muscle, your fingerprints would stay on it. A week after, Travieso still rather swelled up, started to feel itchy and scratched himself until his chest popped open. We called the vet immediately.
Travieso received a large dose of steroids along with antibiotics to be given daily for a week. The vet advised us to keep it clean by hosing with clean water twice daily. There was nothing more to do at that point. He couldn't be sown back together since most of the skin seemed dead and would most likely fall off anyway. I couldn't believe it. I did not think this poor horse was ever going to make it through with a open fleshy chest and neck without getting an infection and having to be put to sleep. Raul and I looked at each other not saying a word, but both thinking the same thing. Travieso's days were numbered. The first photo was taken June 23rd. Four days after it popped open. Raul kept on working hard, doing exactly as the vet had told and keeping the wound clean. And week by week it seemed to slowly be getting better.
And the healing process has been amazing!

June 29Th.

July 7Th.

July 29Th.

August 9Th.

September 1st.

Through the whole time, almost, Travieso has been lively and in good spirits with a real will to make it through this. I call him our "Super horse." I keep in touch with the vet by e-mail weekly, sending him photos, and he is coming for regular vaccines and a check up at the end of this month. We will be discussing a possible skin craft operation. I will keep up with updates here as well.
Isn't he amazing horse!

Ride to Cameron's Inn

2007-08-15T11:16:00.000-07:00

Last Sunday we planned a ride with Ronda and Penny. Ronda was very sweet to bring Virpi a horse to ride, Prince, whose owner is not able to ride any longer, and whom Virpi fell in love with immediately. I was suppose to ride Joe, another one of Ronda's horses, but after a quick body check concluded, that his back was sore and didn't feel right about riding him, so I borrowed Faith (Tom's horse) from Armando, who had just saddled her to ride. Faith seemed quite content to be switched from Armando's heavy Mexican saddle to my light English one with an air pad and all. She felt so good and styling, that she was walking ahead of everyone on the way out as well as on the way back.

We rode to Cameron's restaurant, hitched the horses and sat on the outside table for lunch.

The weather was totally grabby, cold, drizzly fog, but it did not dull our mood. It felt great to be on a horse again with good company and good food. And Faith is such a lovely ride. What an awesome relaxing, leisurely Sunday.

Of course Virpi and I hardly had time for our own horses afterwards, which definitely showed on their disappointed faces. And I felt guilty for spending the day with another horse after we stuck Madeira and Steal back into their stalls after only a 15 min. walk. But Faith, who lives just one stall down from Madeira, seemingly beamed while she stood sticking her head over the fence of her paddock, and patiently waited for her after ride treats. On the way out I slipped her a few peppermints and thanked her for a fun day.

Faith waiting patiently for her after ride treats.

Moving forward.

2007-08-09T10:16:00.000-07:00

Although Madeira and Steal live right next to each other they still need that intimate closeness at times, so when Steal was completely stall bound we let Madeira visit him in his stall. She was like a little girl who didn't want to go home from her play date afterwards.

Steal is doing much better now. He seems to really enjoy going for his walks, which is now 10 minutes twice a day. He walks happy and proud. Although to his great annoyance we fitted him with a muzzle so not to take any chances of him eating since his diet must be very strict from now on. On Saturday Joe and I put Steal, Madeira and Sunrise in to the round corral and had them all walk around for ten minutes. Head to tail they walked like a line of elephants.

Last week I finally got on Madeira for the first time in 9 months. Only for a few minutes after our playing session, bareback and bridle less, and she walked around so perfectly tuned into me, that I was virtually surprised how easy it was to direct her with solely my seat. I was ecstatic as Raul rode by wrangling out a group of customers, and gave me a million dollar smile.

Later he wanted to know how I had the guts to get on Madeira like that, you know without a saddle and bridle, when no one has ridden her for such a long time. Wasn't I scared that she was going to buck me off?

Oh boy, I thought. The normal assumptions that horses will forget and go crazy if they aren't worked and worked and worked. And further, that I would do it without preparing her well on the ground first. To get into harmony with her. Set up for success!!!

But it isn't easy for people to understand if they aren't used to reading horses enough to determine whether it is OK to proceed or whether to retreat. So I told Raul that I simply asked Madeira if she would like to carry me today and she said, "well why not." So I got on. (Raul thinks I'm a bit loony.)

Since then I have gotten on Madeira couple more times for a short while and even trotted around a bit. It's not much, but we are on our way to riding again and slower the better to ensure her leg will hold.

Rodeo fun!

2007-08-03T18:14:00.000-07:00

Mikko and I went to the Driscoll ranch rodeo in La Honda, Ca. Last weekend. It is a small town rodeo and lots of fun. What we learned was that the real bull riders start at the age of as young as three, riding sheep. Yes, real woolly sheep. The kid is lifted on the sheep's back in the bull shoot, then they open the shoot and the sheep runs out as the kid hangs on for dear life until finally falls right under the sheep's feet. I was totally astonished about what cow people do with their kids. Then when the kids are I think ten and older they ride steer. It's just like real bull riding, only with little bulls and little cowboys. And those steer, man, they buck hard. So that's how they teach the cowboys to grow up tough. At some point in their late teens, I guess, they start riding big bulls.

It is very interesting, that the bulls life journey in the rodeo circuit is similar to the cowboys. They start by being roped as calves, then they are used in steer wrestling and, apparently, steer riding for little cowboys, and then for real bull riding... until they end up on someones dinner plate.

Mikko and I decided to try this bull riding ourselves. See the video clip! Mikko actually did very well on the bull. Me, however... well, you could say, that I'm lacking some serious muscle power in my legs.

I have to lift my hat for those cowboys, this stuff demands some serious skill and athletic ability. (Although I did cheer more for the bulls, I think they did awesome job bucking off cowboys.)

It was a fun day! And Mikko looked very handsome in a cowboy hat.

Lessons to be learned

2007-07-23T22:36:00.000-07:00

Here is our photo that won a third place in the "Savvy times" photo contest last year.

Madeira is nearly ready to play like before her injury. I’m still not riding, although there is no reason why I couldn't start slowly, but as you all know I’m always just a little more careful than I really need to. She also will not be jumping for at least another 6 months, but she has come a long way and is doing very well. See it for yourself from the little video clip “Mikko playing with Madeira.”

Mikko is my brother who is visiting us from Finland. He knows very little about horses and has never played with one before. But they both (him and Madeira) were good sports and Madeira played along although this is quite elementary stuff for her by now and at times she looks a bit bored.
Check it out! (And remember, after you click on the video clip, scroll back up to the top, since the clip will show at the very top of the blog.)

So it has been a long road to recovery with Madeira, but one that has really paid off in building our relationship. We all know how important it is to just hang out with our horses, without doing anything, or asking anything of them. “Horses love the art of doing nothing.” (Linda Kohanov.) But I never realized HOW MUCH this time spent doing nothing would deepen Madeira’s trust towards me. See, I used to think that when you want a horse to perform a certain way, you have to work, and work at it. But now I really understand that it IS NOT about the task. It is about TRUST!
All those times that we sat on the grass while our horses grazed, and Joe, Virpi and I complained to each other, that there we were just launching, getting nothing done, as we all felt that we were suppose to be working on our levels tasks. We didn’t realize, that we were achieving something much more valuable. Our horse’s trust.
This was just one of the light bulbs that have gone on in my head in the recent years. Here is the whole story.
Two summers ago, when I was starting my second level of “Parelli Natural Horsemanship” and one of the tasks was to play the seven games with a “flag,” (which simply means to tie a plastic bag to the end of a carrotstick,) I used to get incredibly frustrated, because Madeira would absolutely freak out about the plastic bag. Well, although by that point her freaking out was more like “phase one” freaking, instead of the wild rearing beast, that she used to be. She rather turned away going into sort of a locked up state, “introverted,” where she could escape my intentions with the big bad horse eating plastic bag. And I worked, and worked, and worked at it. Approach and retreat. Approach, more retreat. And although I realized, that she was not actually afraid of the bag itself, but the ruffling sound, that it made, it seemed that by the end of the summer we had not advanced in this task at all. Each time the “flag” game out, we were right back to square one. I eventually gave up, in frustration, because IT DIDN'T WORK!
And the winter came along. Rain, cold and wind. Seemed like the mud covered everything. How it got from our boots to our faces, I have no idea, but we didn’t exactly feel like playing. All winter long we huddled within the over sized hoods of our rain coats that covered us all the way down to the top of our rain boots. We coiled up the leadropes, so they wouldn’t drag in the mud, and walked to the nearest fresh patch of green, that grew faster than our horses could eat it.
At the dawn of the spring as the ground dried up we kept to our leisurely routine, only now we could sit down on the grass while the horses grazed.
Then one day in the early summer we decided, that it was time to start playing. And when I pulled out the “flag” Madeira was a completely different horse. It was as if a switch had been turned off in her head and it no longer blinked “danger.”
I was dumbfounded! I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. I could touch her with the ruffling bag all over her body, pull it over her head, and she never even flinched. Just stood there calm and confident, trusting, that I was not going to hurt her. Amazing feeling!
It was one of those crucial times that I realized, that it didn’t matter if I was using the correct tools and techniques, if I hadn’t won her trust first! I had to take the time to prove to her, that I was trustworthy.
I could see how easy it would have been to give up stating, that this Parelli stuff didn’t really work, and slip right back to the old traditional way of handling and riding horses. (At least we could have saved ourselves from being ridiculed by the “normal” people.)
Thank God I never gave up! Now I’m in a place where I care more what my horse thinks about me, than what other people do. And I know that my horse will thank me forever.

Destiny and Sneaker

2007-07-22T10:09:00.000-07:00

I didn't get to the ranch until later on Saturday morning after spending Friday night at the bookstore. It was the "Grand Hollows Ball" in honor of the release of the last "Harry Potter" book. The book went on sale at the stroke of midnight and thanks to my husband going there at 9am that morning to get me a number to stand in line, I was one of the first in line and walked out with my new "Harry Potter and the deathly hollows" just quarter after midnight. Then of course I stayed up reading it for another hour.

Anyway, I've been talking about turning Sneaker and Destiny out together for awhile thinking surely they would get along since they are neighbours and often when I turn Sneaker out Destiny calls and calls after her. So FINALLY yesterday I decided to try it out and sure enough, they were GREAT! They seem very compatible, comfortable with each other and relaxed.

Baby Layla visits the ouside world

2007-07-17T11:16:00.000-07:00

Two weeks ago was the first time I put a halter on the baby (since she is getting a bit big for the rope harness and the pony halter is now little less too big) She is amazingly smart. She has learned very quickly to give to pressure instead of pushing against it and after playing with her the right way it wasn't any problem leading her with the halter for the first time. So for the past couple weeks we have been taking walks with momma and baby on lead around the ranch. Baby is very curious about the "outside" world, but it is a little scary too. We walked up the driveway towards the back gate where Cruiser and Fire from the boarder pasture came to say hi. Everyone loves the baby! And she knows it. She trots by with her little curly tail in the air saying look at me I'm so pretty! And she is. (Reminds me of someone... Madeira.)

Manes flowing and tails held high...

2007-07-16T19:04:00.000-07:00

Something was in the air the other weekend. Sneaker (white) and Little-Joe (bay) played youthfully in the arena just after they had seen momma and baby run wild. When I went to bring them back in intending to take Little-Joe first, Sneaker, who usually is very good pushed herself through the arena gate before I could close it before her, and ran to eat grass on the other side of the fence. It's a good thing she stays around and comes when called! But even better thing is that Little-Joe knows to stop behind me, because when Sneaker pushed herself through the arena gate, it swung open hitting the two barrels standing behind it, which made a horrifying, horse-eating sound that spooked Little -Joe nearly on top of me. Well, it all ended just fine, thanks to the owners teaching these horses trust and respect towards humans (two of the most important things in the horse and human relationship.) I caught Sneaker with Little-Joe in tow and they both came in quietly.

A bit of history

2007-07-15T21:43:00.000-07:00

This is a portrait of the Godolphin Arabian by John Wootton 1731. He is said to be one of the forefathers of all horses and Madeira is in the 25th generation of his descendants. (I can totally see the resemblance.)

"Few horses have as much legend associated with them as does the Godolpin Arabian. He had a small head on a well arched and crested neck, was short-backed with tremendous quarters and a high-set tail. He had great bone, action, and a fiery temperament. He was described as a brown bay ("with reddish mottle"), about 15 hands high (one source says 14.2h.) with some white on the off hind heel. He was said to be small, but that his get usually stood taller. His constant companion was the cat, Grimalkin.

The stallion was probably one of several presented as tribute to the King of France by the Bey of Tunis. While in France he was described by Vicomte de Manty, who said his name was Shami, that he was beautifully-made although "half starved", with a headstrong temperament that made him unloved among the barn staff.

He was imported from France in 1729 by Mr. Edward Coke, a gentleman with personal connections in France, especially with the Duke of Lorraine. The Duke of Lorraine, later Emperor Francis I of Germany, also figures in the history of the Belgrade Turk. Sir Marmaduke Wyvill, brother-in-law of Edward Coke, purchased the Belgrade Turk from the Duke and brought him to England. It can be presumed that Coke acquired the Godolphin Arabian via the French court, possibly from the Duke himself.

Mr. Coke brought the Arabian to England and stood him at his recently purchased Longford Hall in Derbyshire; in Coke's stud book he is referred to as "ye Arabian." The official story of the Arabian, later known as Lord Godolphin's, begins in 1731, when he covered Mr. Coke's Roxana, (ch.f. 1718) by the Bald Galloway, who was bred by Sir William Strickland. The following spring, Roxana foaled a bay colt by the Arabian, named Lath, who was said to be "a very elegant and beautiful horse," and who was later sold to the Duke of Devonshire.

Coke died in August, 1733 at the young age of 32. In his will, he left his small group of mares and foals, including Roxana and Lath, to a personal friend and fellow horseman, Francis, the second Earl of Godolphin, son of the controversial figure, Sidney, the first Earl. His stallions, including the Arabian, Whitefoot, and Hobgoblin, were left to another friend, Roger Williams. In 1733, the Earl acquired the Arabian from Williams, which is how the horse became known as the Godolphin Arabian. He was moved to the Earl's stud near Babraham in the Gog Magog Hills in Cambridgeshire, not far from the racing town of Newmarket. Lord Godolphin's mansion lay within the boundaries of the Iron Age fort known as Wandlebury Ring. The mansion was leveled in 1956, but the stables and other buildings remain on site

The Godolphin Arabian died in 1753 at an advanced age estimated to be 29 years (presuming he was a mature stallion of five or six upon his arrival in England). A solemn ceremony was performed at gravesited and he was laid to rest under a gateway at the stable. A stone slab was placed over his grave with an inscription noting who lay underneath. This gravesite is still in existence inside the archway of the stable block within the building complex inside Wandlebury Ring."

Searching back Madeira's bloodlines the earliest horse I found was "Fairfax's Morocco Barb" 1633. Imported from Morocco for Charles first in 1637.

The earliest imported stallion registered in the GSB (general stud book.)

I vacationed in Morocco with my family when I was twelve and got to ride a Barb horse.

Steal's misfortune

2007-07-10T19:55:00.000-07:00

So on Monday the vet came for Steal and confirmed Virpi's worst worries. Steal has Laminitis.

Laminitis (AKA Fouder) is basically inflammation of the sensitive laminae which holds the coffin bone in the hoof capsule. It is caused by lack of oxygen due to decreased blood flow to the laminae. This can destroy the laminar tissue and cause the coffin bone to rotate, "drop."

Laminitis is most commonly caused by high sugar intake eg rich grasses or grains that cause the stomach wall to release endotoxins which ultimately cause the blood vessel contraction. But it can also be caused by acute infections, problems after foaling, or a large intake of cold water before properly cooling down a horse after exercise (where such endotoxins can be released), excessive weight bearing, or a localised hoof abscess.

Steal became lame first on June 9Th. Of course the exact day that we were away in Sacramento at the Horse Expo. Beverly, who was looking after our "babies"found him barely able to walk and called Virpi immediately.

The farrier came the following week and assuming it was an abscess he packed the R.F. hoof with Ichtamol and put a shoe and a pad on. And for balance he shod the L.F. too. We gave him bute for a few days and he seemed better. And then last week as we stopped giving him bute, he was much worse.

Virpi had a natural hoof care specialist, whom I use to trim Madeira, come and pull those shoes, (didn't seem like shoes had been a good idea in the first place) but Steal was not getting better.

So the vet whom Virpi had been talking to in a phone for the past couple of weeks, said it would be a good idea to x-ray.

There is no rotation of the coffin bone yet (thank God)according to Steal's x-rays, and we must hope that with lots of rest, the right medication and change of diet he will recover.

The cause of steal's laminitis is not certain. It may have started with an abscess which could have weakened the laminar attachment, although we really never found the abscess, (but it doesn't mean there wasn't one.) It could be the alfalfa. We had just gotten a new load of what seemed like very rich and hot, leafy stuff right before it all started. And of course Steal is a bit overweight, which is a good base for laminitis, and we have been grazing a lot lately.

I have to add, that I saw Candy, the little pony laying down in her stall just a few weeks ago and as I went in to check her I found, that she was suffering from a case of laminitis.

Candy has had laminitis before, and after Raul switched her from alfalfa to oat hey she is feeling better.

So it seems that Madeira and Steal are going to spent the summer in a stall afterall. We stopped weaning Madeira back into alfalfa, her diet will remain mainly grass hay, and I will keep getting my money's worth as I pay Raul to exercise Madeira daily.

Well... with a big sigh, that's all for today.

Trouble with Travieso

2007-07-08T22:09:00.000-07:00

Here is Travieso enjoying his daily wash. (Snapped the photo from a perfect angle to not show the enormous, ugly wound.)

On Saturday I let him out into the arena as Raul has been doing during the week. He immediately lay down and seemed to show some classic signs of colic. So I checked for gut sounds, temperature and gum colour, which all seemed fair for his current condition. I made a warm bran mash and he barely sniffed it. I got really worried. As he lay down I sat next to his head and massaged his head and ears hitting all the acupressure points I knew of that may help for colic. He really enjoyed it. Seemed he fell asleep. And then suddenly his eyes went white and he started kicking and twitching as if he was having a seizure. It freaked me out! It lasted for no more than 5 seconds and as I was ready to run for help he just got up and followed me. It was mind boggling. Had he just had a seizure? Or did I put him to sleep and he had a horsey dream about running on the beach? He lay down again and I sat down with him and continued to massage. After about twenty minutes he got up and seemed to feel better. He wanted his bran, ate it all and was perfectly normal.

I don't know what to make out of that.

On Sunday he was in good spirits, or as good as he can be in his condition. But I noticed as I turned him out into the arena that he was eating sand. Not just licking it little bit, but taking bites of it with his teeth and munching mouth fulls. Raul mentioned seeing him do that last week.

This could possibly have caused a problem in the intestine, although sand colic is far more serious than and impaction and I'm not sure any acupressure would help for it, but if sand had anything to do with Travieso's Saturday episode I sure hope the Phsyllium I mixed into his bran will do it's trick and push out the sand.

I'm e-mailing photos and updates for his vet weekly to monitor his healing progress. We really like this vet, he has been an excellent help.

Patriotic horses!

2007-07-05T00:28:00.000-07:00

Happy 4Th of July To all!

We had fun watching the parade in Half moon Bay, lots of familiar faces in there. Me, a brand new citizen proudly waving an American flag.

And of course we had our own little celebration with Steal and Madeira afterwards. They were good sports with their hats and scarfs.

Steal is still lame. What a timing. Now that Madeira would be almost ready to go out into the pasture Steal is laid up. And we certainly cannot separate them. So more stall time for both. I think they are more or less used to their stalls and don't mind as long as they can be right next to each other. But we would rather have them out in the pasture so they could move around and act like real horses as opposed to some sort of caged up zoo animals.

Here they are all patriotic and proud to be American!

One busy weekend

2007-07-02T22:48:00.000-07:00

We left everything for the last minute again and were totally scrambling to prepare for the nearing 4th of July parade in Half Moon Bay.
And then on Sunday Morning Steal turned up lame!
Oh well, our 4th of July plans quickly changed from a hustle bustle early morning to be IN the parade to a sleep in, relaxing sit down coffee shop breakfast before going to WATCH the parade. We really don't mind. There is always next year.
Our trimmer guy came just this morning to check Steals foot and give a treatment plan. Steal is going to be fine.

We took a short walk on the trail with Madeira and then visited baby Layla who was turned out in the small arena. Here is Madeira greeting Layla, who looks like Madeira's little "mini-me."

2007-06-26T10:30:00.000-07:00

After watching Steal getting treats on the tire Madeira wanted to try it too and sure enough, it worked. The carrots started pouring in!

We've been taking some nice long walks on the trail. Madeira in her new Caballo sneakers.

She is doing fantastic since her suspensory desmitis 7 months ago. She is now trotting 30min. per day for the third week and this week we started cantering a little. All on the ground of course, but I might be able to hop on her for a slow short ride sometime this summer if all goes well. We have already started weaning back to alfalfa since the pasture release is getting closer. Next weekend we will hopefully let Steal and Madeira loose in the arena with Cruiser and let them play.

Little Layla is coming out more now. We play Parelli games and she LOVES all the attention and affection. Momma has been good and trying her best to keep up with the little bugger, while Willa's Madiera, who is a seasoned mom and very good at her job indeed, stretches her neck over the paddock hollering instructions to Momma Frenchy.

All is well in horseland. Despite our on going injuries, bumps and bruises. Travieso looks the worst I have ever seen, but hopefully will make it since he has such a will to live. (cannot post any photos yet. too graphic.) Something good will come from all of this. With Madeira it is the deepened trust and bonding. Travieso.. well I send him telepathic messages daily and he can barely wait for me to go see him and snuggle him. In a mean while Raul is taking excellent care of all and everything, and we just hang in there with deepest compassion to care for our loved ones.

Some horse logic

2007-06-24T23:18:00.000-07:00

We finally got our "backyard" together and the large tire has turned out to be just "another old toy." after getting over the initial nerviousness of climbing on it Steal quickly realised that standing on the tire meant lots of "good boy's" and a whole buch of easily earned "goodies."
He now walks to the tire and climbs on it and looks at us saying "Look at me! Bring over the carrots!"